The 2019 Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championships kicked off the first full weekend of the post season. Based on each of the seven teams' overall season averages, less than six points separated the top from the bottom, making this year's contest a virtual free-for-all. Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa shared the regular season title, and it would come as no surprise that a fourth team would rise up and take the post-season crown. Penn State, ranked 3rd in the Big Ten, became that fourth team! [...more]
Navy (400.70) won their first USAG Collegiate team title since 2008, easily trouncing Air Force (384.80), William & Mary (384.50), Army (383.20) and Springfield (377.05). The Mids swept all six team events to ensure their top-10 ranking.Sophomore Ryan McVay was the top all-arounder in the varsity field, compiling a 78.75 score. Navy qualified nine gymnasts [...more]
Nebraska went into their final regular season meet knowing they probably had to post their best score of the year. Well, they got the job done in a nationally-televised matchup (BTN). The 7th-ranked Huskers (408.70) set new team highs on SR, VT and PB to hand 3rd-ranked Michigan (403.80) a disappointing road loss. Nebraska saved their overall best for last, turning in a very exciting and satisfying Senior Day performance in front of the home crowd. They exceeded their previous high score by over 4 points. Nissen-Emery Finalist Anton Stephenson also saved his best for last, recording his highest AA score of the season (84.40), posting three scores of [...more]
NCAA Men's Gymnastics' top weekend draw featured a showdown between three top-5 teams, and they did not disappoint. 3rd-ranked Michigan (409.55) emerged victorious from the toss-up battle over 5th-ranked host Penn State (407.80) and 4th-ranked Illinois (406.90). The Wolverines trailed through five rotations, but ended up with the better body of work on the last three events, highlighted by their big VT rotation (71.90). The Illini looked like they were going to pull off the win, but [...more]
Where to start? NCAA Men's Gymnastics' marquee battle between Oklahoma and Illinois turned out to be the highest scoring meet of the season. The Sooners (425.70) posted another season high in a convincing win over the Illini (415.70). Perhaps it was inevitable the Sooners would post a new standard, given that it was Senior Night for their powerful graduating class of nine gymnasts. After being virtually tied after three rotations, Oklahoma pulled ahead for good after a strong VT rotation (73.15). The Sooners hit 14-plus on 16 of their first 20 routines. They set season highs on FX (72.40), SR (71.75), PB (69.95) and HB (71.15), and scored 70-plus on [...more]
6th-ranked Illinois (413.05) pulled off a big upset over 2nd-ranked Stanford (411.65) and 5th-ranked Minnesota (404.75). The host Illini had not competed since Week 5 of NCAA Men's Gymnastics, but the time off worked in their favor, as they established a new season high on Senior Day. They scored 70-plus on three events, winning three team events (FX,PH,VT) and four individual event titles. Illinois took advantage of both of their opponents' low scoring on PH to clinch the victory. They also set new team highs on [...more]
5-Up/5-Count started up in Week 7 of NCAA Men's Gymnastics -- The teams did not flinch. The weekend's marquee matchup between Oklahoma and Michigan did not disappoint. Both teams exceeded their season scoring averages, but the end result was not as close as anticipated. Nearly tied going into the fourth rotation, Oklahoma (424.05) erupted on VT (73.45) to pull away by a healthy margin over 3rd-ranked Michigan (411.20). All five Sooners posted 14.55 or better to establish a new NCAA season high. The Sooners also became the first team this season to score [...more]
Sam Mikulak was the only automatic qualifier to the Senior National Team to compete AA in Sunday's Senior Event Finals. He improved over his Day 1 score by almost two points, winning two event titles (FX,HB) in the process. Joining him on the victory stand were Stephen Nedoroscik (PH), Trevor Howard (SR), Colin Van Wicklen (VT) and Adrian de los Angeles (PB). Two-time NCAA PH champ Nedoroscik scored two of the weekend's five scores of 15 or better. Howard dominated the rings, winning by almost 0.6, and also taking the 2nd position on VT. Van Wicklen had [...more]
Yul Moldauer's first all-around competition of the year, which also served as preparation for next month's American Cup, turned out to be good enough for him to earn his second Winter Cup title. The win was a close one over defending champ Sam Mikulak, who will also share the American Cup stage with Moldauer on March 2. He was able to stave off Mikulak's pair of back-to-back surges on HB (15.10) and FX (15.00) to eke out a slim .05 victory margin -- 84.50 to 84.45. Moldauer tallied a meet high on PB (14.45), and had top-3 scores on PH (2nd-14.10) and SR (3rd-14.50). Mikulak had four top-5 scores, including his [...more]
Virtually every NCAA Men's Gymnastics team this season is enjoying some high-impact performances from their freshmen. Many of them are showing up in the top 10 of the rankings. Three of them of them are on the west coast -- Stanford's Brody Malone and Ian Gunther - Cal's Darren Wong. Malone and Wong are each ranked in the top 10 on two events and the AA, and Gunther cracked the top 10 on SR. Oklahoma's Vitaliy Guimaraes is in the top 10 on FX and VT. Other freshmen making the mid-season top 10 are [...more]
