Day 1 of the 2011 Winter Cup is in the books. The day's top qualifier was Oklahoma's Jake Dalton, who logged an 88.10 to outlast Danell Leyva's 87.45. Not surprisingly, the day's top 6 AA scores were posted in the day's second session. The top two qualifying club gymnasts were Jake Martin (82.95) and Stacey Ervin (81.80). Several prominent scratches have marred this meet, such as [...more]
No season would be complete without our list of six-footers among the ranks of NCAA men's gymnasts. It almost seems that our list is shrinking, but not every team publishes the height and weight for their athletes. Not sure of the reasoning behind that, especially since all Division I teams publish the height and weight for their football, basketball and baseball players, even though they inevitably fudge on several of them. After all, how many [...more]
Stanford, Cal and Illinois are the top 3 teams after the first two weeks of the 2011 season. No doubt this will change as the season progresses and gymnasts regain their health and lineups/routines firm up. Stanford's 364.40 last weekend is provoking much conversation. Their score was higher than any they recorded all last season. It will be interesting to find out how consistent [...more]
It is with our deepest regrets that we deliver the news to you that our dear friend and SCATS Boys Team coach since 2008, Anatoliy Zhydkov, passed away Friday, January 21st, 2011 following heart complications. Those who knew Anatoliy knew a man whose love for the sport of gymnastics and his students was only matched by their adoration and respect for him. He was kind, caring, committed and beloved by his family, friends and those who had the pleasure of working alongside him. We are truly heartbroken to say goodbye to him this way and do so with heavy hearts. [...more]
In a high-scoring weekend of college men's gymnastics, at least for three teams, Stanford posted a huge 364.50 to reaffirm its pre-season number one ranking. The Cardinal more than made up for their loss to Cal last weekend with one of the highest team scores in memory. To put things in perspective, Cal's team score of 358.80 was the NCAA's [...more]
The 2011 men's club gymnastics season kicked off this past weekend, and the top two meets were the Vitaly Scherbo Invitational and the Windy City Classic. Some amazingly high early-season scores were posted at both meets. At the Windy City meet, Orlando Metro's Jake Martin had the highest all-around score (89.10) and highest score on floor (15.00) in the 16-18 division. Meanwhile his teammate, [...more]
Illinois looked like the top men's collegiate gymnastics team after all the opening weekend scores were posted. At least they appear to be the healthiest, and in relative mid-season form. At the 2011 Windy City Classic, they easily dispatched Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa, Minnesota and UIC, as they won the team title for the second season in a row. The 4th-ranked Illini's 355.40 overwhelmed [...more]
In what may be Cal's final season of competitive men's gymnastics, the Bears gave Cal's bean-counting administrators something to think about, as they defeated top-ranked Stanford in both team's season opener. In the first of back-to-back weekend dual meets at Stanford's Burnham Pavilion, Cal's Glen Ishino put up some staggering numbers to give the collegiate gymnastics world ample notice that he will again [...more]
As one of the nation’s fastest top rising stars, Stacey Ervin had a breakout season in 2010. At the 2010 JO Nationals, Ervin qualified for the finals on four events (FX,SR,VT,PB) and ended up capturing 2nd place on parallel bars and won the national championship on vault. His hard work paid off with a 3rd place all-around finish. Maintaining that momentum at the 2010 VISA U.S. Championships, Ervin placed 4th in the all-around, took 3rd on floor and again won a national championship on vault. Ervin, a high school senior, trains at Mills Gymnastics in Southgate, MI under [...more]
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]
