It's now the early signing period for college gymnastics recruiting. Lasting a week (Nov. 10-17), the remaining men's programs have been scrambling for the past several months wooing the nation's best club prospects. As of now, only Oklahoma has formally announced their impressive recruiting haul. The Sooners have signed Jacoby Rubin, Dylan Akers, Danny Berardini and William Clement. Rubin and Akers are current Junior National Team members. Assuming the rumor mill is accurate, Oklahoma will probably end up [...more]
Rick McCharles and Full Twist posted great perspectives on the current state of gymnastics blogging and new media. As they both duly noted, the most prolific new media representatives who reported from the World Championships in Rotterdam were Anne Phillips from Gymnastike, Blythe Lawrence from Gymnastics Examiner and Brigid McCarthy from the Couch Gymnast. As Coach Rick said, FIG and USAG have wisely embraced new media, and are [...more]
We need a serious come hell or high water commitment from the entire gymnastics hierarchy to be forceful in guaranteeing the future of men's collegiate gymnastics. The same amount of bravery and strength our gymnasts exhibit every single day needs to go towards the promotion of our sport. Now. [...more]
Chancellor Robert Birgeneau lowered the boom on Cal's prestigious men's gymnastics program today by officially announcing the sport has been de-funded effective upon completion of the upcoming 2011 season. Birgeneau also gave the heave-ho to men's baseball, men's rugby, women's gymnastics and women's lacrosse. Yes, thanks to Title IX, the men had to be cut for quota purposes.
It's a sad day for Cal gymnastics, whose demise was [...more]
ust a few weeks after an exciting 2010 VISA U.S. Men's Championships, six of our top gymnasts completed a successful competition in Guadalajara at the recent 2010 Pan American Games. Team USA, comprised of Glen Ishino, Jake Dalton, Wes Haagensen, Alex Buscaglia, Dylan Akers and Bryan Del Castillo, walloped Brazil, Canada and the rest [...more]
Jonathan Horton picked up where he left off Wednesday night, improving his all-around score by almost a full point, and held off Danell Leyva to successfully defend his U.S. Championship title. Horton posted a 91.30 to best Leyva's 90.00 in Friday night's competition in Hartford, CT. He hit on all six events this time and even improved his score on pommel horse (14.10). If not for his slightly watered-down high bar routine (14.90) and his lower score (compared to Wednesday's 15.30) on parallel bars (14.90), Horton would have scored [...more]
Jonathan Horton obviously brought his A-game to the first night of competition. He even hit his re-vamped pommel horse routine (13.95). Although he fell on his signature event (high bar... 14.20), he still posted a respectable 90.35, outlasting 2nd place finisher Danell Leyva by a full point. What a weird day, chock full of falls and mishaps. Brandon Wynn tore it up until his 12.35 on pommel horse. Still, this guy hit 15+ on three events to potentially force his hand on the selection committee. Wynn's 16.00 on rings, plus his impressive all-around performance, seems to make his [...more]
High-scoring Jesse Silverstein picked up where he left off at May's JO Nationals by winning the final qualifier (88.10) for the 2010 VISA U.S. Championships. He also racked up the most points (96) as he posted the day's top score on rings (14.75) and had top-5 scores on parallel bars (15.05), vault (15.85) and high bar (14.25). Danell Leyva placed 2nd in the AA (87.70), while fellow Senior Team member Alex Buscaglia placed 4th (86.30) and compiled the second highest [...more]
USA Gymnastics recently posted the VISA USA Men's Qualifier participant list, and it is quite impressive. Predictably, the list for the Senior Division is especially outstanding. Heading that list are Sasha Artemev, Joey Hagerty, Danell Leyva, Alexy Bilozertchev, Thomas Kelley, Wes Haagensen, Ryan Lieberman, Josh Dixon, Alex Buscaglia, Aaron Fortunato, Phil Onorato, Kyson Bunthuwong, Bryan Del Castillo, CJ Maestas, Daniel Ribeiro and Jesse Silverstein. Current Level 10 (14-15) Junior National Team member Jacob Dastrup is also [...more]
Gymnastics fans are starting to come through. Cal's men's gymnastics program needs help now, like no other time. A Facebook fan site has been created by Cal gymnast Daniel Geri, and a donations site is up and running. While supposedly nothing definitive has been planned by the school, Cal officials make it no secret that several programs are on the chopping block, and that Title IX must be factored into the equation. This is a no-brainer, folks. If we want to keep men's gymnastics alive, [...more]
