Illinois hosted another match play format in a dual men's gymnastics meet against Stanford. The head-to-head contest ended up with Stanford on top (21-9), but they also prevailed on regular scores (440.30-420.40). The live webcast was very enjoyable to watch, as viewers were able to watch both teams competing on the same event. The scores were revealed after each two head-to-head competitors squared off. Whichever gymnast had the highest score, the winning team was awarded one point. In other words, the Cardinal won 21 out of 30 routines [...more]
LAS VEGAS, NV -- A just reward for his decade-plus elite men's gymnastics career, crowd favorite Paul Ruggeri turned two great nights of gymnastics into his first Winter Cup all-around title. Ruggeri (175.25) won out over Steve Legendre (174.70) and Donnell Whittenburg (174.50) in a hard-fought battle between two veterans and a rising young star. Rounding out the top five was another young star, Marvin Kimble (173.80), and Cal grad Donothan Bailey (172.05). A year ago at this meet, Legendre suffered a torn pectoral muscle that kept him out of action until [...more]
Here is some great information for all the Senior Men competing this weekend at Winter Cup, starting with U.S. Nationals. The first page has a link to the start list and a bunch of other info. Each gymnast has his own tab. Thanks to Shelli Koszdin for compiling this exhaustive list. [...more]
A robust class of club gymnasts has announced early commitments to the collegiate ranks. Among the top 2015-16 recruits are 2014 JO Nationals AA champion Alec Yoder and 2014 U.S. AA/SR champion Tristan Burke. Yoder, the bronze AA medalist at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, will join Burke at Ohio State. 2014 U.S. PH champ/AA runner-up Yul Moldauer was the [...more]
2014 is the year of the repeat for Sam Mikulak. In April, he led his Michigan Wolverines to their second-straight NCAA team title, and repeated his AA title. It wasn't easy, but he gutted out a Day 2 performance to outlast John Orozco and Jake Dalton for another repeat title at the U.S. Championships. Mikulak needed to crawl out of the hole he dug for himself on Day 1. He didn't exactly crawl out, though. It was more like being shot out of a cannon. His six-for-six 92.25 AA performance was [...more]
John Orozco posted the day's highest scores on PB (15.60) and HB (15.75) and also had top 5 scores on FX, PH and SR to end the day atop the leader board (90.75) at the 2014 U.S. Men's Gymnastics Championships. Orozco hit six for six, easily demonstrating his continued standing as one of America's top all-arounders. Jake Dalton also had five top 5 event scores, including the day's best FX routine (15.65). It was Dalton's first AA competition since last year's [...more]
Alec Yoder added to his budding resume in fine style this week at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. Yoder captured a well-earned bronze medal in the all-around (82.80), with a consistent performance over the two-day competition. On top of that, he compiled the highest scores on PH (14.10) and HB (13.85) on day 2. Yoder earlier qualified for event finals on [...more]
LONG BEACH, CA -- It wasn't quite as dramatic as last year, but Marvin Kimble repeated as JE national AA champion (91.90), earning his third consecutive JO Nationals Level 10 title. Last season, of course, Michigan-bound Kimble tallied a mind-boggling 94.05 to begin a surge to his eventual selection to the Senior National Team this past February at Winter Cup. He also had a strong 2nd place finish in Saturday's compulsory session to cement his elite legendary status in [...more]
The surprising Air Force Falcons scorched their home gym for 439.70 points in their Sunday afternoon victory over UIC (407.65), nearly becoming the sixth team to join the 440 Club. Former long-time Junior National Team member Timmy Wang set another career high/Academy record in the AA (88.40). Wang, a prime recruit, has really sparked his team this season. Perhaps another thing has also lit [...more]
LAS VEGAS, NV -- A very strong 2nd-day performance, including improved scores on four events, propelled Chris Brooks to his first Winter Cup all-around title since 2010. Brooks scored 1.7 points higher on PB (15.55), and a full point better on SR (15.05) to compile a 2nd-day AA score of 89.05. In fact, eight of the top ten finishers improved on their prelimary round scores. Donnell Whittenburg scored 15-plus on three events (FX-15.60, SR-15.05, VT-15.15) to leapfrog into [...more]
