Winter Cup Recap & Mid-Season Review
Each year the midway point of the NCAA season is highlighted by the USA Gymnastics Winter Cup Challenge. This contest is part of the USA Gymnastics elite circuit and is not an official NCAA competition, but it is comprised almost entirely of current, future, and former NCAA athletes.
As always Winter Cup was exciting with ups and downs from star athletes and athletes whose talent is developing. The first 2024 national team was announced after the two-day competition including a long list of athletes connected to NCAA programs.
National Team by Program:
Air Force:
Patrick Hoopes
Michigan:
Cameron Bock
Paul Juda
Fred Richard
Landen Blixt - Dev
Minnesota:
Shane Wiskus
Oklahoma:
Fuzzy Benas
Yul Moldauer
Penn State:
Joshua Karnes
Stephen Nedoroscik
Stanford:
Jeremy Bischoff
Taylor Burkhart
Asher Hong
Riley Loos
Brody Malone
Curran Phillips
Colt Walker
Khoi Young
Kai Uemura – Dev
Some of the big news out of Winter Cup is that Oklahoma alum, Yul Moldauer is on his game. Moldauer hit routines consistently throughout the weekend and claimed his second straight Winter Cup Title as well as the floor crown.
Air Force’s Patrick Hoopes made his first senior national team by winning pommel horse over the weekend, hitting a 6.5 start value routine two days in a row. Illinois alum Alex Diab showed yet again that he’s the strongest man in America by claiming the rings crown. Kameron Nelson from Ohio State took home the trophy on vault for the second year in a row.
Former Stanford standout, Curran Phillips had an outstanding weekend solidifying himself as a contender for the 2024 Olympic team by winning both parallel bars and high bar by large margins. His 6.9 start value on parallel bars is among the best in the world.
It would be blasphemous not to mention Brody Malone, the former Stanford star who is making an impressive comeback this year in the approach to the Paris games.
Mid-Season Update
On the NCAA side of things, we are in the midst of a historic season. Scores this year overall are a little bit higher than we’ve seen in recent years, and it’s not because the judges are letting NCAA athletes off the hook. NCAA gymnasts are doing impressive work this year. They are attempting high levels of difficulty and limiting major execution errors. It makes for a very exciting season.
As of now Oklahoma, Stanford, Michigan, and Illinois are in the hunt for the NCAA team title by putting up consistently high team scores throughout the first half of the season. Nebraska started off slower but has shown some big improvement over the last couple of contests. Penn State and Ohio State have been up and down in their team scores but have immense potential to make their way into the super six.
Also in the mix are Cal, Air Force, Navy, and Greenville. Greenville, a team comprised entirely of underclassmen, is in their second season and showing both impressive gymnastics and improvement each week – a combo that should have their ECAC foes on edge. Army, Springfield, William & Mary, and Simpson round out the field. Each of these teams has shown growth and will fight for a team spot at NCAA championships.
As we enter the second half of season, we’ll see some athletes make their way back into lineups after recovering from injury and teams testing out different lineups to find the roster that will put them in the best spot to win come post-season.
The power rankings hold firm going into the second half of the season.