NCAA Snapshot Week 1
Picture credit - me. Yeah, I know it’s from a long time ago, but I think it’s cool. You may recognize some of these guys. I wasn’t able to attend any of this weeks meets in person, and this beats a picture of me watching a screen while eating ice cream. Don’t worry, those are coming.
The first week of the best time of the year has started - Men’s NCAA gymnastics season!
First week meets are an opportunity to give freshman a spot in the lineup and perhaps test out new routines. I’ve attended first week meets where everyone pretty much fell on everything. Usually there is nowhere to go but up.
Detailed results, rankings, and videos of all the routines can be found in the men’s section at Road To Nationals.
Detailed meet reports can be found at Neutral Deductions , Gymnastics Now B1G , Gymnastics Now ECAC, Army official website, Michigan official website, Penn State official site, Simpson official site and Greenville official site.
Quick Hits
The new Division lll teams are off to a great start of their second season, with Simpson scoring 366 (a 24.65 point improvement over week 1 of 2023) and Greenville scoring 383.5 (a 10.4 point improvement over week 1 2023). If Greenville can keep it up, they may be looking at a spot on the ECAC Championship podium (William and Mary placed third last year with a score of 383.55).
Freshman stepping up
Greenville freshman Logan Watterson ranked #1 in the nation on vault with a score of 14.95
Michigan freshman Kyle Walchuck ranked #1 on pommel horse with score of 14.3
Greenville freshman Zach Connelly ranked #1 on floor with a score of 14.1.
Michigan freshman Pierce Wolfgang is ranked #1 in the nation in the AA. Check out this video he made about the state of men’s NCAA gymnastics.
Penn State had a bit of a rough meet, but they showed up with a total D score of 150.9, which is very close to what got Illinois on the podium (total D of151.8) in the 2023 NCAA Championship. Michigan isn’t too far behind, with a total D score of 149.9 (without the aid of stars Paul Juda and Fred Richard).
4 men competed routines with D scores high enough to have made event finals at the 2023 World Championship - and all of them hit.
Josh Karnes of Penn State on parallel bars (6.1/14.9) and high bar (5.5/14.05)
Javier Alfonso of Michigan on still rings (6.0/4.7)
Crew Bold of Michigan on high bar (5.6/14.1).
Check out the charts below for a snapshot of last weekend’s meets. Home scores are in red. Stick bonus is included in the D score. Neutral deductions are included in the E score.
Meet Snapshot - Army @ Penn State 1/5/24
Meet Snapshot - Greenville and Simpson @ Michigan 1/6/24