The Men's JO Nationals are back on the west coast, with Reno, NV having the honor of playing host. Meet coordinators Tim Klempnauer and Roger/Debbie Baldwin always put on a great show. A major change to the format has the Level 8/9 (JO Division) reduced to a single-day competition. Otherwise, things will remain the same. A total of 14 gymnasts from the Level 8/9 JE division will earn Junior National Team honors based on their rank-order finish from [...more]
When I was first asked to write this post, I thought it would be pretty easy. Still on a second-hand high from the competition Saturday night, I tried putting pen to paper. I started and deleted several times. Drafted several different approaches. I even restarted watching the stream of the competition to try and get back into that state of mind. It gets really easy to try and finesse a narrative that puts a bow on the entire season, ties up all loose ends. And going into this meet, it seemed like it was going to be relatively open and shut, even saying that as a Stanford alum. However, the beauty of sports is that nothing is ever as it seems, [...more]
Stanford was down 4.4 points going into the final rotation, but they plowed ahead and posted their highest team SR score of the season (71.131) to win their first NCAA Men's Gymnastics title since 2011. Oklahoma seemed to have a comfortable margin going into their HB rotation. After all, they are the top-ranked team on that event. But things didn't go their way, as they ended up about 3 points below their season average (66.065). That is all Stanford needed to pull off the incredible feat. "The Streak" of four straight NCAA team titles is [...more]
Oklahoma exceeded their season scoring average by over a point, posting team scores of 70-plus on four events to run away with the evening qualifying session. The Sooners (419.191) romped over host Illinois (410.324), Penn State (404.287), Iowa (400.39), Ohio State (399.754) and Army (383.855) to easily become the day's top qualifying team. It was quite a feat to top their season average in the post season, especially with Yul Moldauer competing on only three events. No doubt Coach Mark Williams would likely be happy with a team score of [...more]
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]
