Day 1 of the 2012 Men's JO Nationals is in the books. The day's action featured the Level 10s. There weren't too many surprises, although many of the all-around favorites in the 16-18 division didn't even crack the top 10. As expected, Swiss Turners won the Level 10 team title, while Regions 3 and 7 won the regional team competition for the 14-15 and 16-18 age divisions, [...more]
Hawaii's most decorated gymnast, Josh Yee, is putting the finishing touches on his last season as a club gymnast at Hawaiian Island Twisters (HIT). Yee is coached by his brother, Michael, and receives much guidance, coaching advice and support from his mother, Lori, who happens to be the head girls' compulsory team coach at HIT. It's one big family effort, and quite a support group for Yee. Being so isolated from the mainland, maintaining his competitiveness is a big challenge. Trips to large meets are relatively few and far between, compared to the mainland gymnasts. Yee has met all his [...more]
The Senior field for the 2012 VISA U.S. Men's Gymnastics Championships is nearly set. Fourteen gymnasts punched their tickets at the final Qualifier held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Three current Juniors, Jake Martin, Jesse Glenn and Trevor Howard, were among the fourteen. Glenn is among the favorites to win the all-around at next week's JO Nationals, and will begin his collegiate career in the fall at West Point. Ohio State-bound Martin would also have been one of the favorites, [...more]
Post-season collegiate honors have been bestowed on many athletes, and the men's gymnastics community is well represented. One gymnast, in particular, ought to be singled out for his academic prowess. Minnesota's Nathan Fortunato was named as a Big 10 All-Academic scholar athlete, and he earned it about as well as it can be done. Fortunato put up a [...more]
No gymnastics fan needs to be reminded of all the angst and uncertainty the Cal Men's Gymnastics program was about to go through less than two years ago. As we all know, things ended on a happy note; the program was cut, and later reinstated, thanks to the efforts of many enthusiastic donors. The aftermath, however, left the program in a relative state of flux. No scholarship money and all the uncertainty left the Bears with an empty recruiting pipeline. Except for freshman walk-on [...more]
Now that all the great collegiate competition is over, it’s time focus our attention on the upcoming JO Nationals. This season’s meet will be taking place May 10-13 in beautiful downtown Cincinnati. As we mentioned in a previous post, this year’s Level 10 (16-18) competition is going to be especially fierce. More than a half dozen gymnasts have a [...more]
A great season of college men's gymnastics is now in the books, with the completion of event finals. The big winner was Stanford's Eddie Penev, taking titles on FX (16.10) and VT (16.50), and was the only gymnast who bagged two. Illinois' CJ Maestas (15.30) was the only freshman who won an event title, upsetting Penn State's Scott Rosenthal (15.25), the favorite going into the meet. Michigan's Sam Mikulak won his first individual event championship, easily getting [...more]
Down by over 3 points going into the final two rotations, Illinois roared back, on of all things, pommel horse. The Illini blew the doors off their hinges, exceeding their season high on the event by nearly 3 points. Their 60.75 closed a big gap behind Oklahoma, with the Illini finishing on SR and the Sooners ending on HB. It was really academic after the Illini's romp on [...more]
The Michigan Wolverines, banged up for most of the season, saved their best for last. After hitting the 350-point mark for the first time at the Big 10 Championships, they did it again at the NCAA Qualifier (353.45) to win the opening session, thus easily qualifying for the Finals. The Wolverines defeated Penn State (353.00), a team that was [...more]
All the results are in! Hocking Valley's Trevor Howard (Region 5 - 90.50) and Monmouth's Akash Modi (Region 7 - 90.00) posted the highest regional all-around scores in the country. Links to all regional results are provided. [...more]
