NCAA Snapshot Week 3

Teamwork from Oklahoma (someone forgot their uniform) - all pictures mine.

The Big Picture

I appreciate ALL the gymnasts who are part of the NCAA and GymACT (and providing me with entertainment). I look at the NCAA season as a story which ends at Nationals. I may concentrate on the main characters, but there would be no story at all without all the hard working athletes, coaches, support staff, and families.

Oklahoma came out swinging at the Rocky Mountain Open, scoring a huge 420.35, even after a neutral deduction of 1 point due to an injury substitution on still rings. This is the highest score achieved by any team so far this season, and surpasses any score Oklahoma attained last season by 1.42 points. For perspective, Oklahoma’s score at last year’s Rocky Mountain Open was 411.85. Oklahoma achieved the both the highest total E score (263.15) and average E score per routine (8.77) of any team so far this season. Fuzzy Benas established himself as one of the of leading all-arounders with a score of 85.2 - the highest so far this season). Being in the arena, I could feel the energy; the team was fired up and hit 100 % of their routines,

Nebraska made a strong debut with a score of 409.6, and now ranks 4th in the nation. Their total D score was 155.2, somewhat behind the Big Three of Stanford, Michigan, and Oklahoma, but within striking distance of at least Michigan and Oklahoma if Nebraska has a great day.

Fred Richard and Paul Juda made their season debut for Michigan, helping the Wolverines to a score of 412.5 (D of 159.3). They had some errors which they will almost certainly bounce back from, and probably some upgrades in the works, so I expect them to go higher.

This season is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in recent years. Stanford is still far ahead of the pack in difficulty (let’s see what they do this weekend), but everything else is up for grabs.

The all-around race is also shaping up to be epic. We have (in no particular order) Paul Juda, Fred Richard, Fuzzy Benas, Asher Hong, Khoi Young, Colt Walker, Taylor Christopulos, Josh Karnes, and probably more.

There is much more to explore. Below are all the resources you need to know everything that happened in week 3.

For rankings, results, and videos Roadtonationals

For detailed meet reports Gymnastics Now MPSF , Gymnastics Now B1G, CGA Power Rankings

School reports Air Force, Army, Greenville, Illinois, Michigan, Navy, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Springfield, William and Mary

Quick Hits

Illinois defeated Greenville 400.95 to 388.85 (a program record), but Greenville continues to impress with their execution. They have a sign in their gym that says “execute, execute, execute”, and they are doing it at the level of many D1 teams. Greenville has two team E score averages in the top 10 of the season so far (8.488 and 8.422).

At RMO, two gymnasts that are known as pommel specialists also competed parallel bars - Patrick Hoopes of Air Force and Ignacio Yockers of Oklahoma.

Penn State had a rough meet at Navy Open, partly because they didn’t put up their strongest line ups, and just plain old bad luck. Expect them to bounce back.

Returning to competition after much time off - Sam Phillips of Nebraska

The “15” Club:

Emre Dodanli (Oklahoma) FX 15.25 (6.0/15.25)
Paul Juda (Michigan) VT 15.00 (5.2/9.7/+.1 stick bonus)
Fred Richard (Michigan) PH 15.00 (5.9/9.1)

Men who scored 80 + in the AA

Fuzzy Benas (Oklahoma) 85.2
Toby Liang (Nebraska) 81.45
Colin Flores (Oklahoma) 81.45
Isiah Drake (Navy) 80.65

Men with D scores that would have qualified to an event final at the 2023 World Championships

Fuzzy Benas (Oklahoma) HB 5.6/13.9
Landon Blixt (Michigan) FX 6/14.3
Crew Bold (Michigan) HB 5.6/12.95
Garrett Braunton (Air Force) HB 5.6/14.1
Taylor Christopulos (Nebraska) HB 5.6/13.55
Brandon Dang (Illinois) PH 6.5/14.45
Emre Dodanli (Oklahoma) FX 6/15.25
Emre Dodanli (Oklahoma) HB 5.7/14.5
Patrick Hoopes (Air Force) PH 6.5/14.5
Paul Juda (Michigan) HB 5.4/13.2
Sam Phillips (Nebraska) HB 5.4/12.7
Zach Nunez (Oklahoma) PH 6/14.8
Fred Richard (Michigan) HB 5.7/14.4
Ignacio Yockers (Oklahoma) PH 6.2/14.95

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.

For the purposes of the snapshots, I used Oklahoma’s total score without the neutral deduction. These are meant to be a picture of the gymnastics that happened, not an official document.

NCAA Snapshot Week 4

NCAA Snapshot week 2