Week 2 2026 CGA Power Rankings & Recap
By Peri Goodman, Isaac Erickson, and Peter Hristozov
This was an action-packed and nail-biting second week of action for collegiate men’s gymnastics. There were three exciting competitions, featuring multiple teams competing in each meet, event finals and Winter Cup spots on the line. If those weren't exciting enough, 2019 Nissen-Emery Award winner Yul Moldauer also made an appearance in his first competition back after sixteen months, rotating with his alma mater, Oklahoma. The Rocky Mountain Open took place on Saturday, with Oklahoma, Stanford, Nebraska, and Air Force battling out for the team title. The West Point Open ran a packed two-day meet, with Army, Penn State, Simpson, Navy, William & Mary, and Springfield competing for a team title, then competing for individual event titles on the following day. Lastly, the Ohio State Open took place on Sunday, which had a huge Big Ten representation with the addition of Greenville. Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan, and Greenville proved to be an exciting grouping of teams with plenty of surprises occurring as the quad meet progressed.
Hot Takes
WEEK 2 MEET RECAPS
Rocky Mountain Open
The Rocky Mountain Open was just as exciting as expected. As usual, Oklahoma put out a statement early, posting the highest score in the nation so far with a 323.950 to win the competition. Freshman superstars Sasha Bogonusuk and Nathan Roman led the team, putting up standout performances as if they were veterans. Bogonusuk did a great job in the all-around, with his highest scores coming on vault, where he scored a 14.100, and floor, where he scored a 13.900. Roman won the parallel bars with a 14.500 and also scored a 13.900 on floor. Junior Nico Hamilton ripped his high-bar grips during his routine and had to compete his entire routine again with borrowed grips and an extra heap of drama. Hamilton ended up putting down a solid set after this situation with a 12.600 that kept the Sooners in the running. Igancio Yockers performed a great pommel horse routine, coming in second to Patty Hoopes with a 14.250. Sophomore Colby Aranda also competed in his debut routine for the Sooners on pommel horse, placing third with a 13.950. The Sooners separated themselves from Stanford on high bar and pommel horse, where the Cardinal seemed to struggle at times. However, Stanford placed second with a 320.750 and won the high bar, vault, rings, parallel bars, and the all-around title. David Shamah had an outstanding all-around performance with a 79.700, where his best score came on parallel bars with a 14.500 – tying Oklahoma’s Nathan Roman for the title. Nick Kuebler had a tremendous high bar routine with a multitude of difficult releases and a stuck double twisting double layout dismount, scoring a 14.000 to win that event. Wade Nelson won vault with another stuck Kasamatsu 1 ½ vault. Lastly, for Stanford, Reece Landsperger won the still rings with a 14.100. Nebraska had a great showing with a third-place finish and a 315.500 team score. Nathan York won the floor exercise event title with a 14.000, demonstrating great tumbling and artistry. York also had a strong parallel bars routine with a 14.450, just behind the two leaders. The Cornhuskers had the highest score of the meet on vault, which is promising for the rest of the season. Junior Max Odden also had a solid showing in the all-around with a 76.650, placing fourth and highlighted by his 13.750 on high bar. Air Force had a few consistency issues, but plenty of new faces had the opportunity to compete this past weekend and make their collegiate debuts. Freshman Isaac Koo had a noteworthy performance on floor with a 13.500, placing seventh on the event. Senior Jack Matlock also drew from his experience on pommel horse, scoring a 13.500 and also placing seventh on that event.
West Point Open
The West Point Open proved to be a strong early-season measuring stick, with a deep field of six ranked teams across a two-day competition. Penn State controlled the meet from the opening rotation to finish first with a 313.500 team score, winning by 6.850 over host Army. William & Mary edged Navy by just three-tenths for third. Army showed early momentum on floor and pommel horse, leading both rotations on day one with a 52.600 on floor and a 54.000 on pommel horse, but Penn State’s depth and consistency separated the Nittany Lions after rings and vault, where Army’s 7.450-point deficit on rings proved costly. Penn State posted a massive 54.450 rings total, sweeping the top three spots on day one lead by Matthew Underhill’s 13.600, where he showcased strength, took advantage of the Yamawaki to handstand bonus, and finished with a double-double dismount. He was followed closely by teammates Luke Esparo (13.450) and Akseli Karsikas (12.950). Esparo elevated his performance in finals, delivering the top rings routine of the competition with a 13.900 on a 15.400 start value, while Karsikas finished second. Penn State also led vault with a 55.300 team score ahead of William & Mary’s 54.850. On floor, Kellen Ryan surged in the finals to win the event title with a 13.400, narrowly edging out teammate Michael Artlip. Pommel horse belonged to Army’s Maddox Pabellon, who was the standout of the weekend with matching 14.200 scores across both days, while Springfield’s Devon Felsenstein finished just behind with a 14.000 continuing his steady start to the season. Vault finals saw Army’s Nick Lester capture the event title with a near-perfect Kasamatsu 1/1 and a stuck landing on day one for a 13.850; even with Kellen Ryan competing a higher-difficulty 14.8 vault, Lester’s execution and landing control proved to be the difference. Parallel bars featured a tight battle with Penn State leading the rotation, and both Army and William & Mary both scoring in the 50s, as freshman Eliran Ioscovich impressed with a 13.800 on day one before struggling in finals, while Army’s Noah Duran delivered the most consistent performance of the meet, improving to a 13.300 in finals and finishing with a double front dismount with a small hop to secure the title ahead of Artlip. High bar proved to be one of the tightest events of the weekend, with Penn State edging Army by just 0.650 as Army, Navy, and William & Mary remained tightly grouped before William & Mary’s Luke Tully claimed the event title in finals. While Tully showed up with a piked Jaeger and his inbar work executed to proper angles, Army’s Cash Johnson rose into second, and Tully’s teammate Ricky Pizem added another podium finish for the Tribe. In the all-around, Penn State swept the top two spots for Landon Simpson (78.550) and Karsikas (78.350), with Navy’s Brian Solomon rounding out the podium in third with a 77.550. Navy also saw strong individual contributions from Jonah Soltz on floor, Zach Silao on rings and Aaron Stein on rings, and Matthew Petros anchoring vault with the Midshipmen’s lone 14.8 start value. Springfield’s Kaleb Palacio continued to show high-level potential with a massive Tkatchev release and a stuck double-double on high bar scoring 13.950. As teams continue to finalize lineups and clean up execution, the West Point Open emphasized both Penn State’s early-season depth and the narrowing margins among the ECAC programs heading into the rest of the season.
Ohio State Open
Michigan started their afternoon on rings, which was less than steady a year ago and looking for a facelift. Akshay Puri anchored the rotation with a fluid set for 13.400, earning his second consecutive rings title. Closing on pommels after clawing back from third after four rotations, the Wolverines put up a nation-leading 56.050 en route to winning the quad meet. Aaronson Mansberger was able to count his dismount at full value this week, catapulting him to a 14.900 final score and a second event win in as many routines this season. Kyle Walchuk threw down an aggressive hit routine for 13.300 on parallel bars, and will be relied on to lead the underclassman-heavy event lineup in their transition into weekly competitions. Host Ohio State remained steady through the first two thirds of their day, showing high scoring potential from leadoffs to anchors. Vault and floor have continued to be the Buckeyes’ strengths going into the new season, with a joint event title going to Zach Snyder and Chase Davenport-Mills at 13.900 apiece on the former. Drake Andrews won the all around with a commanding 79.400, and in doing so qualified to the 2026 Winter Cup. Underdog Greenville crept their way to a 307.450 for third place, improving by over two points from week one. Their strengths remained similar to Ohio State’s with vault and floor, but relative to the weekend’s three Big Ten opponents were strongest on parallel bars. Jaxon Clapper continues to lead the Panthers across his three events, with a notable 14.050 event win on floor and on parallel bars with a 13.900 this week. Illinois had their first test of the season, and raked in their share of event titles – but not without major inconsistencies on the events they can usually use to cushion the others, namely pommel horse for its difficulty, and high bar for its execution potential. Garrett Schooley remained in the eye of the Illini hurricane, finishing second all around with a strong upside once he controls more landings. He also earned a share of the vault title at 13.900, and the rings title at 13.400.
WEEk 2 conference outlook
Big Ten
Save an uncharacteristic meet from Illinois, the Big Ten has hit the ground running with less than a point separating the teams by average. Nebraska has emerged as a strong threat to Michigan, only 0.300 behind when measuring season highs and having done so without having competed at home yet. Ohio State starts their season as a dark horse, not leading but also not trailing on any events out of the conference’s five teams. Head Coach Rustam Sharipov divulged preseason that his team has put measurable work into landings throughout the off season, adding that “landings can make or break the team score, so more sticks are something we have really focused on in the off-season. Of course, if these are consistent, we will accomplish the ultimate goal of contending for team success”. Penn State has laid the foundation for a strong season, with Head Coach Randy Jepson shouting out freshman Shaun Smith: “(he) performed very well with excellent performances … in both the prelims and the individual event finals. It's great to see a freshman stepping up like a veteran”. He also shares that pommel horse saw major improvements at the West Point Open compared to 2025, as though it was unrefined it was also far less tentative than in seasons past. Optimistically, he adds “It wasn't necessarily pretty all the time but, gritty leads to pretty and we will get there”. With four of the five Big Ten teams seeing dual meet action this coming week, we’ll be treated to an amp vs. amp battle of lineup puzzles, hit percentages, and hopefully big sticks.
MPSF
This was a big week for the MPSF. It was Oklahoma and Air Force’s first competition of 2026, and it was an exciting competition to begin with. Oklahoma came out swinging, putting out the highest team score in the NCAA so far. What’s truly promising for Mark Williams and the Sooners is that this was not their strongest lineup, and they still have routines they can clean up staring down the rest of the season. Fifth-year National Team Member Fuzzy Benas was not at full strength, only competing floor and vault. He will be looking to add more events to the team score for future meets. We will also see how Sasha Bogonosiuk and Nathan Roman continue to improve throughout the season, and they peak towards that National Championship. Bogonosiuk came away with MPSF Freshman of the Week, which is an exciting honor for the newcomer. The Stanford Cardinal also did not bring their strongest lineup, which shows how their team score can easily increase as that difficulty is added from key players such as Asher Hong. Hong has lots of potential difficulty, and the Cardinal will rely on him later in the season. Jun Iwai had his first two collegiate competitions, but he did not show his full potential. Iwai performed very difficult routines but had costly mistakes on floor and highbar at the Rocky Mountain Open. If Iwai works on his consistency and continues to keep the same difficulty, this will be a huge swing in Stanford's final team score as the season progresses. David Shamah won MPSF Gymnast of the Week, while Nick Kuebler won Specialist of the Week. Airforce competed with a modified lineup during week one, which was plagued by some injuries. If they can get some of their regular lineup back, they will also be looking to increase their team score as their consistency improves throughout the season. We did not see Cal compete in week two, but they will be competing at the Stanford Open against Stanford and Ohio State. It will be interesting to see what they will change or improve upon from week one of competition.
ECAC
There will be no competition for Greenville this coming weekend, while Springfield College and William & Mary travel to Navy for a Saturday matchup. Army will head to Simpson College for the Storm’s first home meet of the season. Springfield enters the weekend after a six-point drop from last week’s total, which head coach Matt Davis attributed to late-meet execution, noting the team “lacked focus on our last event.” Davis did highlight sophomore Devon Felsenstein, who competed two events and finished with just 1.300 in combined execution deductions across both routines. William & Mary made its season debut at West Point and will look to rebound after a meet marked by early growing pains, as Evan Wilkins struggled to find rhythm and suffered multiple falls, including a grip peel on high bar during his prep tap. Despite sitting 14th in the rankings, the Tribe remains a program typically in the ECAC title conversation, showing flashes of potential in its first outing. Greenville continues to surge, jumping to ninth nationally and leading the ECAC rankings after improving its team score by more than two points during its visit to Ohio State – where it also defeated Illinois. The Panthers were highlighted by Jaxon Clapper on floor, parallel bars, and vault, Andres Esquivel-Garza on pommel horse, and captain Donovan Diviney on high bar. Navy remains in evaluation mode as the Midshipmen work to identify their core 12 athletes, with the weekend serving as a mix of positives and tune-ups; however, the coaching staff will likely revisit the parallel bars lineup after multiple major errors from the four competitors on the event. Simpson showed continued improvement with nearly a two-point gain, aligning with head coach Colin Payne’s belief that the team has real potential this season. While returners experienced costly errors and the high bar rotation failed to produce a score above 12.000, freshman Garrett Alexander stood out on pommel horse with a 12.900, showing he is NCAA-ready and capable of providing a reliable lineup score. Host Army saw several encouraging individual performances but remained thin on both depth and difficulty across rings and high bar. The latter was led by sophomore Cash Johnson, who posted a 13.050, though the rest of the lineup trailed by 0.450 to 1.100. Rings remains an event the Black Knights must stabilize if they hope to contend for the ECAC title as the season progresses.
Now that all teams have gotten the chance to compete, we have a good idea of how these teams are looking at the start of the season. However, as the season progresses, lineups will begin to change, consistency will improve, and exciting matchups are to be awaited. This was an exciting week two, and there will be even more exciting competitions in week three. Oklahoma and Michigan will be a great matchup as both teams were ranked in the top three during the CGA Preseason Poll. The Stanford Open will also be an exciting competition, as it is also a Winter Cup Qualifier.
Week 3 Schedule:
All Times EST.
Saturday, January 24th
2:00 pm Springfield College, William & Mary @ Navy (Navy Open) - Live Stats | Live Stream
2:00 pm Oklahoma @ Michigan - Live Stats | Live Stream
6:00 pm Illinois, Penn State (Sam Mikulak Invitational) - Live Stats | Live Stream
6:30 pm Army @ Simpson - Live Stats | Live Stream
10:00 pm California, Ohio State @ Stanford (Stanford Open) - Live Stats | Live Stream