Huge Opening Weekend for NCAA Men’s Gymnastics
Posted on 20 January 2010 by admin
The 2010 NCAA and club season is off to a rousing start. Stanford blew out undermanned Cal (352.75 to 340.10) in the season opener for both teams. Cal was minus All-American Glen Ishino (injured in warm-up) and Dennis Mannhart (ineligible), and only won the team competition on pommel horse and parallel bars. Stanford showed why they were the pre-season favorite to repeat as Ryan Lieberman took the AA (87.10) and Tim Gentry won on vault (16.10) and rings (15.65).
Illinois had the NCAA highest team score (353.75) of the weekend in their season debut win at the Windy City Invitational. Junior Paul Ruggeri also turned in the weekend’s highest AA score (88.60) as he helped the Illini fend off Michigan (351.35) and Ohio State (347.15). The Illini won every individual event title except for rings, and compiled the top team score on every event except for rings and high bar. Daniel Ribeiro (15.30) and Luke Stannard (15.10) swept the top two spots on pommel horse. Ruggeri won on high bar (15.60), CJ Padera on parallel bars (14.85), Yoshi Mori on vault (15.90), Chad Wiest on floor (15.65), while Ohio State’s Brandon Wynn (16.10) took the rings title. Ruggeri’s exploits earned him the NCAA Gymnast of the Week.
In the club portion of the Windy City event, Bartlett’s and Buffalo Grove each prevailed respectively in the Level 10 16-18 and 14-15 age divisions. Buffalo Grove’s Wasef Burbar took the AA crown (84.85) in the older division and Mills Gymnastics’ Stacey Ervin topped the younger division (85.60). Ervin prevailed over Junior National Team members Jake Martin (84.50) and Sean Melton (83.45). Burbar beat out Wyatt Aycock (81.60), who is also on the national team. Martin, Melton and Aycock all compete for Orlando Metro. Buffalo Grove’s Craig Hernandez had a tremendous score of 15.00 on pommel horse.
At the Rocky Mountain Open, Oklahoma (347.40) easily prevailed over Nebraska (337.05) and Air Force (325.85). Freshman Jake Dalton made his collegiate debut an impressive one as he won the AA (87.50). He also posted the meet’s top scores on vault (16.25), parallel bars (14.90) and high bar (14.80). Steve Legendre took the floor title (15.95) and freshman Alex Naddour won on pommel horse (15.20).
Several freshmen proved over the weekend that they will be huge impact performers for their respective teams this season. Oklahoma’s Dalton and Naddour did as expected. Illinois’ Yoshi Mori won the vault title in his debut. Cal’s Donathon Bailey tied for first on pommel horse (14.75), and Stanford’s Eddie Penev won out on floor with a nice 15.60. Penn State’s Felix Aronovich and Nick Grant won respectively on pommel horse (14.80) and floor (15.20). This year’s freshmen crop will end up posting some especially productive numbers.
After sorting through all the collegiate scores from last weekend, it’s clear that there is no single dominant team. Going into the weekend, Stanford was the pre-season favorite, but now Illinois is enjoying top-ranked status. Depending on injuries and other factors, it’s still a five-team race for the 2010 NCAA team title. We believe that several teams will take turns sitting on top of the rankings during the season.
The 2010 Vitaly Scherbo Invitational also took place last weekend and we’ll follow-up with a later piece.
