A Junior is sitting on top of the leaderboard at the halfway mark of the 2014 Winter Cup Challenge. Not sure if a high school gymnast has ever won Winter Cup before, but Marvin Kimble certainly has a great chance. Kimble, despite taking a tumble on high bar, was the top-scoring all arounder (86.20) after the qualifying round. He had top-10 finishes on FX (7th-15.05), PH (9th-13.40) and PB (4th-14.85). Two tenths of a point separated [...more]
We're only in mid-February, and we've already seen ten team scores of 440-plus in college men's gymnastics. In the 2013 season, there were a total of thirteen, spread out over three teams (Michigan, Penn State and Oklahoma). Four teams now belong to the "440 Club," with Stanford becoming the newest member, joining Oklahoma, Michigan and Ohio State. Stanford did so in grand style, and achieved it on the road in a neutral-site rematch with [...more]
The 2014 Winter Cup Challenge will feature the top elite gymnasts in the country, along with several top Juniors who are invited to attend and compete alongside the Senior men. The Juniors were able to qualify as a result of participating in the Junior Division of the U.S. Championships last August. Normally, the Juniors are just happy to [...more]
Michigan's (444.55) strongest lineup to date produced the nation's highest team score of the season in their exciting dual meet with Ohio State (440.80). The Wolverines established the NCAA's highest team scores on PH (74.75) and SR (75.10 - tied with Penn State & Illinois), while the visitors from Columbus posted the nation's top team score on HB. Backing up Adrian de los Angeles' 88.20 AA performance, was some big time output from Syque Caesar, Stacey Ervin and Sam Mikulak. Caesar had a 15.24 average on [...more]
Some big names topped the list of early signees in college MAG. It appears that Michigan will easily have the top-ranked recruiting class, as they signed Swiss Turners' super combo Marvin Kimble and Dmitri Belanovski and Azarian's Marty Strech. Swiss Turners had four gymnasts sign LOIs, which undoubtedly is the most of any club. Oklahoma signed only one gymnast, but it was a big one. As expected, the Sooners landed [...more]
Not sure if this is unprecedented or not, but USAG added three gymnasts to the Level 10 (15-16) Junior National Team. Johnny Jacobson, Kiwan Watts and Alec Yoder were added to the list of seven gymnasts who earned their spots via last month's U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Hartford, CT. Apparently, the age group changes in both international [...more]
t was three up and three down for Sam Mikulak this year. That's the number of all-around competitions he has entered this calendar year. Back in April, he brought home Big 10 and NCAA trophies, and now he gets to take home another one as the U.S. Championships all-around champion. Mikulak's first eleven events this weekend went down as he planned, all were [...more]
It's apparent we are starting to see the changing of the guards in terms of the hierarchy of men's gymnastics. Sam Mikulak, most gym fans' pick to win this weekend's U.S. Championships, did not disappoint. Perhaps it was the bat flying around the XL Center in Hartford which made Mikulak feel right at home, because he was certainly in the zone on Day 1. Last summer, [...more]
Indiana University junior Matthew Rusk completes his preview of the 2013 U.S. Championships with his profiles of Alex Naddour, John Orozco, Eddie Penev, Paul Ruggeri, Donnell Whittenburg and Brandon Wynn. This year's World Championships will feature six-man teams, but the competition will be comprised of only individual events and the all-around--no team competition this year. The selection committee, thus, will have to deal with the dynamic of choosing [...more]
For the fourth year-in-a-row, Matthew Rusk breaks down the top contenders to win the U.S. Championships, and those favored to earn spots on the 2013 World Team. In part one, Rusk takes a look at Jake Dalton, Adrian de los Angeles, Steven Legendre, Danell Leyva, Sam Mikulak and Akash Modi. The year after the Olympics is usually a rebuilding year that gives young upstarts a shot at contending for U.S. titles and earning opportunities to represent Team USA on the world stage. In 2009, Dalton and Leyva [...more]
