Week 5 2026 CGA Power Rankings & Recap
By Peri Goodman, Isaac Erickson, and Peter Hristozov
It was a big week of gymnastics in week five, featuring a close matchup in the Big Ten, an international competition hosting Stanford, and a nation leading team score from the Sooners. We are getting closer to Winter Cup weekend, meaning closer to postseason for many of these NCAA teams. Full lineups and difficulty are starting to be unveiled, causing shake-ups in the rankings and exciting results for the fans at home.
hot takes
WEEK 5 MEET RECAPS
Ohio State and Air Force at Oklahoma
It was Alumni night in Norman, and the energy radiated throughout McCasland Fieldhouse. The Sooners ended up hitting 23 of 24 routines with a season high of 328.650, the highest team score in the nation so far this year. Senior Fuzzy Benas won the event title on the floor exercise with his stuck back 2 ½ punch double front connection pass, scoring a 13.850. Junior Nico Hamilton was right behind him with his clean combination tumbling and a 13.750. The Sooners pulled ahead early in the meet after scoring a massive 56.150 on the pommel horse, where sophomore newcomer Colby Aranda won the event title with a clean and difficult routine for a 14.500 and a new career high. Francisco Velez Belendez won the rings title with a 13.950, showing beautiful cross and Maltese positions and a well-executed double twisting double back. The Sooners had sticky feet at vault with Tyler Flores and Sasha Bogonosiuk both sticking their Kasamatsu 1.5 vaults for a 14.550, sharing the vault title. The Sooners showed out on the high bar with big releases and sticking all four double twisting double layout dismounts. Fuzzy Benas scored a 13.950 with a nicely executed routine, also taking the highbar event title. Ohio State had a solid competition with a 317.700, but a few mistakes, most notably on the high bar, made a victory over the Sooners out of reach. David Ramirez competed in multiple events for the Buckeyes, with his best performance coming on the parallel bars. A huge, full twisting double tuck dismount notched him a 13.850, giving him the parallel bar event title. The Buckeyes won the vault over the Sooners and the Air Force Falcons with a 56.650. Chase Davenport-Mills scored a 14.300 with his powerful Yurchenko 2.5 vault. Senior Kristian Grahovski had notable performances on high bar and pommel horse for the Buckeyes. Grahovski demonstrated beautiful style in his flairing travel elements, and demonstrated a very difficult Walstrom release and a unique stuck tucked double twisting double dismount on highbar. Grahovski scored a 13.600 on the pommel horse and a 13.500 on the highbar. As for the Falcons, this was only their second meet of the season, and they finished the meet with a 303.050 team score, their highest team this season so far. The Falcons has a great pommel squad with very difficult and well-performed routines from seniors Jack Matlock and Sam Brown. Matlock scored a 13.900, and Brown ended the rotation with a 14.000. Tai Gopaul also had integral performances on parallel bars with a 12.950 and high bar with a 13.250, where he stuck his sky-high triple back dismount.
Penn State at Nebraska
Penn State facing Nebraska was a closely matched competition pre-meet on paper, and the results were just as close as anticipated. Nebraska was able to take the victory at home with a 318.600 to Penn State's 317.150. Chase Mondi took the floor exercise title with a 14.250. His routine featured a difficult, stuck double twisting double layout, followed by a full twisting double layout. Mondi also took the vault title with a well-executed Kasamatsu 1.5, for a 14.050. Caden Clinton took the pommel horse title with his 13.750, and his exceptional artistry and control were demonstrated by his flairing elements and his beautiful dismount that swung up directly to handstand. The rings title was taken by senior Asher Cohen and his 14.350. Cohen’s backuprise inverted cross was perfectly leveled, as well as his crisp Maltese positions. Nathan York redeemed himself on the parallel bars from a previous meet in this competition with a 14.350 and a stuck double front half-out dismount – securing the parallel bars title with this performance. The only event not won by a Husker was high bar, taken by Penn State's Akseli Karsikas. Karsikas showed off his Kolman release as well as his straddle Tkatchev layout Tkatchev series for a 13.850. Other notable performances from Penn State came from freshman Ricky Perez on pommel horse, who came in second on the event with a 13.500. Perez performed a difficult routine that flowed well and was able to fly up without any hesitation on the dismount. Matthew Underhill had a solid performance on the still rings, where he scored a 13.900, performing difficult strength elements. Underhill also went lights out on vault, where he scored a 13.950 for his stuck Kasamatsu 1.5.
Stanford at Elite Canada
In a recent effort to increase viewership and depth in the Canadian men's gymnastics landscape, Stanford was invited to compete as guests at Elite Canada, taking place in Calgary, Alberta. The Cardinal faced off with a Canadian team full of impressive NCAA alumni, including recent Nebraska graduate Yanni Chronopoulos and Cal-standout-turned-world-finalist Aidan Li. Li now having trained with the Stanford Boys’ team, marked this meet as a rare opportunity to compete with ‘both’ of his teams. Jun Iwai came into the meet as a projected favorite, and posted a 79.916 all around to finish second amongst all seniors except Olympian Will Emard. Iwai’s all around statement was flanked by event wins on floor (14.350) and high bar (13.800), both setting new career highs. Floor was punctuated by efficient twisting in each pass, including his back to back opening lines: front double twist to double tuck, and a double double layout. Marcus Kushner has settled into his groove this season, and earned his second consecutive event title with a 14.050 on pommels. He tied Li*, then won the tiebreak by virtue of a higher execution score. Fellow Stanford senior Arun Chhetri was the only competitor to match Li’s 5.5 difficulty, landing in third with a 13.900. Nick Kuebler was well ahead of the rest of the field on rings, posting a 14.200 and finishing with six tenths of advantage over second place. In an already stacked senior class, he’s pushed his way to the forefront and has now notched a 14 or higher at least once per meet across his three events. Though the Cardinal were ultimately within a point of taking down the Canadians via the four up collegiate format, they put up massive scoring potential and unofficially won five of the six events across combined senior age groups. Stanford maintains their streak of scoring at or above 320, and has now shown what hitting four routines on each event looks like. Their next task will be putting them all together, rather than having four of six clean events as we’ve seen through the season thus far.
*of senior gymnasts aged 21+
California, Simpson at Greenville
Greenville hosted conference rival Simpson alongside MPSF opponent California Berkeley in a tightly contested meet that came down to the final rotation, with the Panthers edging out the field by just .500. Greenville captured three of six event titles, winning floor, vault, and parallel bars. Cal, competing without Matteo Bardana this week, stayed within reach all meet after taking pommel horse, rings, and briefly holding a high bar lead. Simpson trailed in team score, but was able to deliver several program-record performances.
On floor, junior Jaxon Clapper led Greenville with a 13.300 to win the event, narrowly edging Cal’s Tucker Yasunaga. Sophomore Kyler Hinson placed third with a 13.200 after sticking his double back pike. Pommel horse swung momentum to the Bears, as Jasper Smith-Gordon posted a strong 13.750 to win the title and Harry Kim followed with a season-high 13.600. Cal continued its push on rings, sweeping the top three spots behind Troy Nuesca’s 13.250 and Jaxon Mitchell’s 13.200. Vault shifted the meet back toward Greenville, though Simpson’s Braxton Jones claimed the event title with a stuck kaz 1½ for a 14.450 - a massive stuck vault. Clapper led the Panthers with a 14.050, followed closely by teammate Logan Watterson at 14.000. Parallel bars proved decisive, with Greenville posting a 52.800 team total to extend its lead. Jaxon Clapper secured his second event win of the meet with a 13.800, while Sergey Popov returned to the lineup and placed second. On high bar, Simpson’s Paul Tiedemann delivered a program-record 13.400 to win the event, followed by California’s Jaxon Mitchell high level routine and Greenville veteran Michael Avery’s routine. Noah Doiron was the only all-around competitor of the meet.
Star Meet - Army at Navy
The ECAC Star Meet featured a rivalry matchup between Army West Point and Navy, with the Midshipmen earning a 308.200–303.000 victory. Navy claimed event titles on floor, rings, and vault, while Army secured pommel horse, parallel bars, and high bar. Navy’s dominant floor rotation, winning the event by more than five points, proved to be the major difference.
The Midshipmen opened strong on floor, posting the top three scores of the meet, all 13.500 or higher. Benjamin Thurlow Lam led the way with a 13.750 to take the event title. Army responded on pommel horse, claiming the top two spots. Noah Duran captured the title with a season-high performance highlighted by clean Stockli entry flops, while Jake Prabhakara followed with a 13.400. Pabellon, typically a leader on the event, struggled with form breaks throughout his routine. Rings was low scoring for both teams, with Navy’s Julian Galvez taking the title at 12.800 and Army’s Carter Beck placing second with a 12.700. On vault, the top three scores were separated by just a tenth. Army’s Jaden Blank won the event with a 13.850 on a stuck Kasamatsu full, while Matthew Petros performed the highest-difficulty vault but finished outside the top spots after landing struggles. Blank also captured the parallel bars title, continuing to find his rhythm this season, while Navy’s Danilo Viciana placed second in routine, his second appearance on the event this season. Army edged out Navy on high bar as a team, though Navy held three of the top four individual scores, led by Matthew Petros with a 13.550 to win the event. Cash Johnston followed in second with a 13.150, continuing to deliver clean, reliable routines for the Black Knights.
No all-around competitors were featured at the Star Meet.
Week 5 conference outlook
Big Ten
Across three meets this weekend with Big Ten teams, we saw three very different outcomes. Michigan and Illinois finished their dual meet with nearly a whole routine of difference by the end of the meet, separated by 11.850 to ultimately score 318.550 - 306.700. The Illini are approaching the part of the season where it’s no longer a fluke score, now sitting by average seventh in the nation but trailing sixth place Penn State by five points. Ohio State finished wedged between the MPSF’s Oklahoma and Air Force, Goldilocks’d between the two on all events save vault (team win) and high bar (team loss). hio State has cemented itself as a vault team in a season where it needed a new leg event star, and is currently the only non-MPSF team to sit atop a team event ranking. Specialist Zach Snyder has grown into the briefly vacant role following a year away from competing, averaging over 14 after four weekends of action. At the other end of the score upside spectrum, Nebraska broke away from Penn State to win by less than a point and a half.
In the race for a Big Ten regular season title (and beyond, at the conference championship), any four of Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Nebraska could emerge at the top of the five. Michigan has the scoring upside by a hair over the Buckeyes thanks to their pommels core, but is also the team of the four mentioned with the largest gap between their average and their high. The upcoming stretch from Winter Cup through to early March will be crucial for each roster to determine their strongest four across the board, and to stand firmly behind every lineup decision being made.
MPSF
Oklahoma made a big statement this week, earning the nation's highest score. Mark Williams states, “ What I was most excited about from our past competition with Ohio State and Air Force was my team put up the highest score in the nation so far with a 328.650, hitting about 95% of our routines, and having some great performances from Fuzzy Benas, who did four events, Cobly Aranda from pommel horse, his first time in our field house scoring a 14.500, and Tyler Flores, who has come back from elbow surgery, and competed on three events very well. Overall, we had about 2,000 people. Our Cleveland Cubs were in attendance from the elementary school that we work with. So overall, it was a great competition.” Williams seemed pleased with his team’s performance and is ready for them to continue building towards the rest of the season. Key and consistent multiple-event performers like Benas and individual specialists like Aranda seem to be great contributors to Oklahoma’s success this season, as they are currently ranked first in the nation going into week six. The Sooners swept the MPSF Conference awards with Fuzzy Benas winning Gymnast of the Week, Colby Aranda winning Freshman of the Week, and Tyler Flores winning Specialist of the Week. During week five, Stanford had the opportunity to compete against Team Canada in Calgary, Alberta. This was a great experience for Thom Glielmi and his team as they competed against two rosters of high-level gymnasts at Elite Canada in an environment that most NCAA teams rarely get to see. Stanford put up a 321.465 here, counting some mistakes from their key players, but overall had a great competition with some of their top athletes competing. Asher Hong, Jun Iwai, and Nick Kuebler made multiple appearances in the Cardinal lineup, with very difficult gymnastics being performed. The Air Force Falcons got their highest team score this season with a 303.050 in their second competition of 2026. The Falcons have had a lot of injuries so far this season, most notably senior Denis Irimiea. Athletes like Tai Gopaul and Jared Fry have stepped up and were valuable parts of the Falcons' lineup in Norman this past weekend. Cal’s competition at Greenville wasn’t their strongest, registering their lowest team score of the season at 306.600. The Cal Bears will be looking to fix a lot of those errors for when they take on Stanford on February 28th.
ECAC
After Week 5, ECAC teams saw a mix of rivalry competition, statement performances, and record-breaking routines across the conference. Simpson and Greenville both faced MPSF competition, while the annual Star Meet delivered another classic service academy battle. Navy claimed the Star for the eighth time, defeating Army by a decisive five-point margin in one of the conference’s most anticipated annual showdowns. Although Springfield College and William & Mary were idle this past weekend, both programs return to action soon, with Springfield traveling to Michigan and Greenville, Simpson, and William & Mary preparing to face Nebraska in the week ahead. Simpson delivered two major highlights this weekend with record-breaking routines on vault and high bar. Sophomore Braxton Jones tied his career high with a 14.45 on vault to secure the event title and tie the program record, while junior Paul Sideman scored a 13.40 on high bar to win the event and break the program record. Head coach Colin Payne praised Sideman’s performance, noting that “from handstand angles to a stuck dismount Paul was a force on this event,” as he captured the title against Greenville and California. Greenville entered the weekend ranked No. 10 before facing the No. 8 Bears and delivered one of the biggest results of the week, upsetting them by just half a point. The Panthers’ performance moves them up to No. 9 in the rankings and continues their upward trajectory as they build momentum toward the championship portion of the season. At the Star Meet, Kip Simons, head coach of US Naval Academy, highlighted his team’s floor rotation as a defining moment of the competition. “The entire event went perfectly. The boys executed their sets really well from start to finish. Attention to detail during our preparation paid dividends,” Simons said. The team’s hunger and focus are evident both on the competition floor and in the rankings, as the Midshipmen move to No. 8 in the CGA standings. Looking ahead, the All-Academy Championships take center stage this week as Air Force, Army, and Navy battle for service academy supremacy in men’s gymnastics. Navy enters the meet with confidence and momentum following its Star Meet victory, setting the stage for another competitive and gritty showdown among the academies.
Another exciting weekend of gymnastics is in the books in week 5, with a lot of the top teams and gymnasts competing. Coming up in week six is going to be the All-Academy Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, where Air Force, Army, and Navy will be battling it out for that team title. Later in the weekend, Greenville, William and Mary, and Simpson will be traveling to Nebraska for a quad meet, and Springfield will be competing at Michigan for a dual competition.
Week Five Schedule:
All Times EST.
Friday, February 13th
8:00 p.m. - All Academy Championships (Air Force, Navy, Army)
Saturday, February 14th
2:00 p.m. - Springfield @ Michigan
3:00 p.m. - Greenville, Simpson, William and Mary @ Nebraska