Nothing like a trip to Reno in mid-April. You never know what kind of weather to expect, but the high level of gymnastics competition definitely met high expectations at the Region 1 Championships. The Region 1 crew (Roger Baldwin, Paul Tickenoff, Tim Klempnauer, et al) put on a great production at the Grand Sierra Resort. The first day featured the [...more]
The 2011 season was a coming out party for Chandler Eggleston. After placing 12th All Around at JO Nationals in Long Beach, Eggleston added a 4th place finish on vault and won his first national title on floor. Qualifying for his first VISA U.S. Championships, Eggleston placed 3rd on floor. In perhaps the most impressive performance by a junior this season, Eggleston turned in the [...more]
Top ranked for most of the season, and most assuredly will now be going into the NCAA Championships, Oklahoma won the MPSF team title as expected. With their awesome mix of veterans and talented freshmen, the Sooners (355.60) held off surging Stanford (352.10), Cal (345.95) and Air Force (335.95). Once again, the Sooners were led by junior Jake Dalton, who won his 2nd straight AA title (89.25), and added three more titles on SR (15.30), PB (15.30) and HB (15.20). Ironically, he did not win titles on his [...more]
Penn State slowly crept up the rankings, putting it into overdrive the past few weeks as they posted the nation's top team scores to become the nation's top-ranked team. It just wasn't meant to be at the 2012 Big Ten Championships, as the Nittany Lions got off to a slow start on FX, and wasn't able to make up ground the rest of the way. Illinois (352.95), though not sharp on every single event, was particularly stellar on FX, SR and HB to clinch their fourth-straight Big Ten team title. Despite the turmoil earlier in the week with the announcement that [...more]
Air Force (341.05) successfully defended their USAG Collegiate Collegiate National Championships title over William & Mary (331.85), Navy (326.90) and Springfield (324.35). On the club side, Arizona State (328.60) defended their team title over [...more]
Streaking Penn State did it again Saturday night. The Nittany Lions (360.60), led by Coach of the Year candidate Randy Jepson, set a school record and a new NCAA season high in their convincing win over Temple (342.20). They also tore the leather off the pommel horse in setting yet another school record (60.30). Freshman Craig Hernandez, a pre-season [...more]
As expected, Team USA dominated the 2012 Pacific Rim Championships, by running away with the team title by 7.35 points over runner-up Japan. It came down to the final event, floor, to decide the all-around champion. Barring a disaster, it was going to be either [...more]
It's interesting to see how this season's new vault scoring scheme has impacted overall team scores compared to last season. Vault start values are now receiving a 1-point deduction. At this point in the season last year, Oklahoma and Stanford were also ranked in the top 2. If you add four points to this season's team scoring average, the Sooners are averaging [...more]
The 2009 season was a turning point for Jake Martin. After topping out in the top 36 as a Level 9 at the 2008 JO Nationals, the next season became Martin's breakout year. A 7th place AA finish (Level 10/14-15) at the '09 JO Nationals in Cincinnati led to a 3rd place AA that summer at the U.S. Championships, where he also had top 5 placements on four events (FX, PH, VT, HB). Many club gymnastics fans were wondering where this kid came from. Well, after the '09 season, [...more]
In a Friday battle in Columbus, 4th-ranked Stanford posted their season-best team score of 355.80, as they upended 5th-ranked Ohio State. The first few rotations were spectacular, as Ohio State posted a respectable 59.00 on FX, led by freshman Danny Steiner's 15.25 and Misha Koudinov's 15.05. It was then on to PH for the Buckeyes, where they absolutely tore up [...more]
