We've been hearing rumblings about the possible demise of the Cal Men's Gymnastics program. Even the women's program is also presumedly on the chopping block. In light of all the budget cuts and the state's overall fiscal degradation, both programs' subsidization is ruffling the tender feathers of the more militant, sports-averse members of the school's faculty. Apparently Cal's athletic department racked up a $1.7 million deficit this past year and received a loan from the school's general fund. We've heard that the guillotine is poised over [...more]
A week after the smoke cleared at West Point, it's a lot easier to analyze the NCAA Championships. Of the top three teams (Michigan, Stanford and Oklahoma), Stanford was the only team not to field an all-arounder in the team finals. Neither did they last season. Coach Thom Glielmi's season-long strategy was to utilize his team's [...more]
Believe it or not, Chuck Conners was the first NBA player to shatter a backboard, albeit he did so during a pre-game warmup with the Boston Celtics. Conners, you may recall was more famous for his television role as "The Rifleman." Well, Illinois' Tyler Williamson became the first gymnast to break one of the [...more]
After initially signing with Nebraska last fall, WOGA's Presten Ellsworth signed a national letter of intent today with Oklahoma. A paperwork snafu scuttled the deal with Nebraska, which led to Ellsworth's deal with the Sooners. Coached by Sergei Pakanich, the six-time Region 3 All-Star and former Junior National Team member offers Oklahoma [...more]
This past weekend was very busy for men's club gymnastics. Every region held their championships except for Regions 1 and 8. Those regionals will be held this coming weekend. Here are the published results for the regions who have so far held their respective meets: [...more]
In a very ugly meet, Oklahoma (354.55) barely edged out Cal (354.45) in the 2010 MPSF Championships. Top-ranked Stanford really tanked on pommel horse (50.35), which immediately took them out of the running for the team title, as that event greatly contributed to the dozen or so points they left on the floor. The Sooners, ironically, needed a strong showing on pommel horse in the last rotation to pull out their victory. Cal is arguably on their way to [...more]
Not only did Illinois dominate last night's team championships, they also kept up the momentum in the event finals. The Illini captured titles on pommel horse, vault, parallel bars and high bar. After a disappointing night in the all-around, Paul Ruggeri bounced back to win event titles on vault (16.35) and high bar (15.55). Daniel Ribeiro gained a measure of revenge on teammate Luke Stannard (14.60) as he claimed the Big 10 pommel horse title (15.625). Stannard was the defending champion on that event, but he [...more]
With Michigan leading after five rotations, it all came down to vault for Illinois in the final rotation. The Illini posted their third highest team score of the season on that event to clinch their second straight Big Ten Men's Gymnastics title. Despite the last rotation heroics, what really put Illinois over the top was their [...more]
Heading into this weekend's conference championships, Stanford is the top-ranked team according to GymInfo. Oklahoma has three of the top six ranked all-arounders... Steven Legendre (88.48), Jake Dalton (88.18) and Alex Naddour (86.99). Not to diminish this list, but several top all-arounders are nowhere to be found in the [...more]
Air Force and Arizona State won their respective divisions at the 2010 USAG Men's Collegiate Championships hosted by Air Force. The Falcons, led by Nash Mills' 85.44 in the all-around, beat back William & Mary 342.25-335.15. Derek Gygax defended his AA title as he tied Nash Mills. ASU's Riley Barclay won the AA (80.35) in the club division. In the event finals, [...more]
