Meanwhile, Iowa also landed a huge recruiting class. Anton Gryshayev, Matt McGrath and Broderick Shemansky have been signed for the 2010 season.  All three gymnasts were top 30 all-around finishers at the 2008 J.O. Nationals.  Gryshayev currently trains at 5280 in Littleton, CO.  McGrath is from Bartlett Gymnastics and Shemansky trains at Champions Academy in Los Gatos, CA.  This is a very impressive class, and perhaps ranks as one of Iowa’s finest ever.

The early fall signing period is producing incredible new talent that will be unveiled in 2010.  This impressive group of signees nicely complements the new crop recently announced by Oklahoma.

The stated purpose of the PCC is to provide direct assistance in preserving men’s collegiate athletic programs and increase scholarship and competitive opportunities in the United States. Proceeds from the PCC benefit organizations that significantly impact the expansion of men’s sports opportunities. One such organization is the newly formed Fairness in Sports Foundation , which is dedicated to addressing the elimination of collegiate men’s athletic programs. Its purpose is to restore the original intent of Title IX and to stop and reverse the decimation of men’s sports.

The 2008 PCC collegiate all-around champion Jonathan Horton won’t be back, however, one of Oklahoma’s top 2010 recruits, Alex Naddour, will be back to defend his Level 10 all-around title. This should be an interesting preview of the NCAA championships, with five of the top eight Division I teams battling it out.  The 2009 PCC is shaping up to be one of the premier meets of the season.

Horton’s inspiring Beijing performance has positioned him to be Team USA’s leader and one of the world’s leading all-around medal contenders leading into the 2012 Olympics.  He’s not bashful about it, nor is he arrogant.  He’s going to go about business with the same attitude that he took with his Beijing high bar gamble.  “No fear, no regrets.”

Jake Dalton of Gym Nevada has been a fixture the past few years as one of the top performers at the J.O. Nationals and is a current Junior National Team member. Dalton was runner-up at the ‘08 JO Nationals. Alex Naddour of Arizona Flairs, placed fourth in the all-around at the ‘08 JOs and is also on the Junior National Team.

Naddour’s brother, Anthony, is transferring from Chandler-Gilbert CC. He led Arizona State’s club team to a national collegiate title last season. Cypress Academy’s Chris Stehl, another solid all-arounder, was a member of the Junior National Team in ‘05-’06.

This is what’s called reloading, folks.  Despite the losses of Jonathan Horton and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, this incoming 2010 freshman class will keep Oklahoma in the national title hunt for years to come.

The 2009 Stanford Open will be held January 23-25. 41 men’s club gymnastics teams have confirmed their participation, along with Cal, Stanford and Nebraska. The three-day meet will be dominated by club competition, but the highlight of the weekend will be the Saturday night NCAA, elite and Level 10 competition. The Level 10s will square off in Friday night’s qualifying round, with the evening’s qualifiers advancing as an all-star team to compete against the collegiate teams.

Wouldn’t it be great if this event were to be televised? This event would be a natural for either ESPNU or CBS College Sports Network. Viewers would get to see an early glimpse of two of the top Division I teams in the country (Stanford and Cal) and they would see some great club gymnasts who will undoubtedly end up competing at the collegiate level and possibly beyond.

Some of the nation’s top club gymnasts who will be competing at the Stanford Open include Christopher Turner (WCOGA), Donothan Bailey (Azarian) and Jake Dalton (Gym Nevada). Black Hills will be sending a very strong contingent featuring Konner Ackerman, Dominic Morris and Alex Powarzynski. Black Hills won the J.O. Nationals Level 9 team championship the past two seasons. SCATS will be well represented by Jordan Gaarenstroom and Adrian de Los Angeles.

Men’s gymnastics received wide media coverage just a few months ago at the Beijing Olympics. Televising the 2009 Stanford Open would be a great way to keep the sport in the public’s eyes. Viewers would get to see some of America’s top male collegiate gymnasts and they would also get a great glimpse of the sport’s future. There is no other sport that offers a joint competition between collegiate and high school gymnasts. This unique competition deserves nationally televised coverage. ESPNU or CBS College Sports Network need to be challenged to step up to the plate.

Click on the links below to issue the challenge. Please ask these networks to televise the 2009 Stanford Open.

ESPN

CBS College Sports

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StickItMedia is not about to be political this early…Obama is 75 days away from being sworn in. It’s better to get off on the right foot, as Saving Sports says. Obama is a big sports fan. He loves to play basketball and he recently voiced his advocacy for a playoff system for college football. Since he’s such a big sports fan, perhaps he should take a serious look at a premier Olympic sport like men’s gymnastics. Title IX’s effects on men’s gymnastics is huge. The number of men’s Division I programs continues to dwindle.

Obama’s hometown, Chicago, is angling for the 2016 Olympics. We should all assume that he will be the biggest hometown homer for delivering the games to Chi-town. We wish him much success. We should also wish that his administration will take a serious look at helping to prop up men’s gymnastics to maintain our nation’s world competitiveness.

Obama’s backyard is home to some of America’s best gymnasts. You would think that he would bend over backwards to help keep our gymnasts world competitive. He should be asked whether or not he would support Title IX waivers to help out men’s gymnastics. We need more collegiate opportunities for male gymnasts.

Men’s gymnastics is not a "minor sport." It is always granted prime-time Olympic television coverage every four years. Chicago is one of America’s hotbeds for gymnastics. Barack Obama should jump on the bandwagon, especially since he will be America’s number one advocate for hosting the 2016 Olympics.

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2009 is going to be a great year for the men. We’ve got some great clubbers and incoming college freshmen who are going to make some serious waves. 2008 J.O. Nationals all-around champions Danell Leyva and Glen Ishino will challenge the nation’s best next year at the U.S. Championships. Incoming Cal freshman, Ishino, will also compete for the all-around championship at the 2009 NCAA championships.

As for our Olympians, Sasha Artemev is blossoming into one of the world’s top all-arounders. Joey Hagerty, aka the hardest working man in gymnastics, has plans to be in London in 2012. Justin Spring, likewise, has 2012 aspirations. Raj Bhavsar is giving no indications of hanging up his grips just yet.

Will David Sender defend his VISA all-around title? Nobody knows for certain. Sender came so close to making the ‘08 Olympic team that it would be a major disappointment for gym fans if he were to retire. He has many good years left if he decides to come back. Meanwhile, the college ranks are burgeoning with talent. Stanford’s Sho Nakamori is back, along with the Bunthuwong twins from Cal. Oklahoma’s super soph, Steven Legendre, will be back to defend his floor and vault titles.

2009 will likely be a benchmark year that will provide great insight into who will end up being America’s best going into 2012. America has a great pipeline of club talent. Don’t be surprised if at least two current club gymnasts end up being among the six athletes who will make the trip to London.

Valdez, Justin Spring’s personal coach, resigned on October 17 for “personal reasons.” Among those interviewed to replace Valdez is Ivan Ivankov, the former two-time world all-around champion from Belarus. Paul Hamm’s name has been tossed around as a possible replacement, but there appears to be no interest on his part.

Let’s hope there’s nothing more to this story. Developing.

The feature that most amazes visitors is the "rankings" page, which shows the scores of almost every gymnast in the region. At any point during the season, each gymnast can see where he ranks in the region. Not only that, but there are rankings for each state. We statistics freaks know all too well how frustrating it is to find scores. Other than MeetScoresOnline, the Region 5 Stats Site is the place to go for Region 5 scores. Quite frankly, we at StickItMedia believe that posting scores is next to godliness, because it’s invaluable to have a historical record for all gymnasts.

The site also has a calendar of upcoming events and links to the results of past events. Not only does the calendar list Region events, but it lists events for all nine regions and elite competitions. Additionally, there are links to every gym in the region.

StickItMedia recently had the pleasure of interviewing Sonja Rupe:

SIM: How important do you believe it is to compile a historical record of Region 5 gymnasts?

Sonja: I don’t know that it is important, but I know several parents have told me they really appreciate it.

SIM: How cooperative are the Region 5 states/gyms in providing you with information?

Sonja: There are a handful of gyms that have jumped on board to help feed me info. Those people are invaluable to me. The rest, I figure, either don’t know about it, or are too busy to participate.

SIM: What do you think is the most important part of maintaining a regional website?

Sonja: Keeping it up-to-date so people have a good source of information.

SIM: Would you like to see a central clearinghouse, like MeetScoresOnline, maintain a historical record for all gymnasts throughout the country? If so, how would you go about promoting it and getting clubs/states/regions to participate.

Sonja: I never thought about that. I don’t have any ideas on how to get clubs/states/regions to participate. Shy of making it mandatory from USAG, I don’t see it happening.

SIM: Over the years, what events, gymnasts or seasons stand out the most in your mind?

Sonja: I have been doing this in some capacity for six years now. There are too many events, gymnasts and seasons to remember any of them in particular.

SIM: Last season, in particular, what were the highlights for Region 5?

Sonja: Last season is hard for me to answer that. My son was a senior and I was really busy trying to get senior stuff done as well as staying on top of the Region 5 site. I literally posted everything without absorbing any of it! I do know that we had a few men at the VISA Championships and one of Region 5 guys, David Sender, won.

SIM: What has been the most rewarding thing about maintaining the region 5 website?

Sonja: My most rewarding thing about maintaining the website is when I get an e-mail from a parent who was able to find something they had been looking for and finally found it on the Region 5 site. Since that is my goal, that situation is the most rewarding.

SIM: Please add anything you’d like to say about Region 5, past , present or future.

Sonja: I do know that Region 5 is a strong region and I hope that it continues to be that way. I never expected for people to like the site as much as they do, but I thank everyone for their support.

StickItMedia would like to thank Sonja Rupe for her dedication to men’s gymnastics and for maintaining such a great website. Make sure you pay it a visit.

http://www.rvmss.org/Reg5Men or http://www.region5men.org

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MeetScoresOnline:  One-stop Source for Gymnastics Scores

It’s time for a national discussion on a strategy to help prop up high profile Olympic sports. For all the good Title IX has done for women’s sports, it has also screwed things up. Title IX is being used as a crutch by universities to justify shutting down programs. Schools have taken the easy way out instead of thinking things through. Part of the problem is that colleges have taken a parochial approach to dealing with Olympic sports, when instead there should be more of a national strategy. What is the NCAA for, anyway?

Universities should be treating the above sports in the same prime time manner that network television treats them every four years. Obviously not all Division I schools can do this, but we need more of them to do it. Colleges must create more scholarship opportunities to maintain world competitiveness. There is a way to do this, but unfortunately we doubt that the idea of maintaining Olympic competitiveness is ever taken into account by the schools.

Too many people believe that Title IX is fine just the way it is. This mindset needs to disappear. We believe that the one of the keys to reforming Title IX is to address Olympic competitiveness and to open up new scholarship opportunities for athletes who will foster that competitiveness. Perhaps once we start fine tuning Title IX by emphasizing the top Olympic sports, it will lead to additional meaningful reform.

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