ECAC Men’s Gymnastics Week 11 Recap: Three season highs to round out regular season

The dual meets in ECAC men’s gymnastics did not disappoint over the weekend, with all teams putting up fights. Navy took the win over William & Mary and Springfield won big against Army in their final home meet of the season.

Five of the six ECAC teams (all but Army) will compete next at the USAG Championships from March 22-23.

Here’s what happened in Week 11.

#9 Navy @ #14 William & Mary

Final score: Navy: 396.750  – William & Mary: 388.100

William & Mary

Although the Tribe hasn’t quite hit the same high scores as Navy, they were coming off a season-high team score and were looking to put up a fight at home for the first and final time this season. 

To some surprise, William & Mary came out of the first event leading the Midshipmen by just over three-tenths. Aidan Cuy led them off strong (13.250), Will Harrington continued to build with a nicely stuck full-twisting double back dismount (13.400), and Evan Wilkins capped them off with a team-high 13.600 to take second on the event.

Some small errors on pommel horse took them out of the lead despite a season high (61.95), but they came back strong with another season-high score on rings (64.85). Evan Wilkins has been dialed in on his set, nailing his 1.5 twisting double tuck dismount again for a 13.400, just 0.050 off first. A clean back uprise Maltese for Garrett Kasiski and a double-double dismount (with a griddy to cap it off) for Niko Greenly earned them a pair of 13.100s.

Kasiski continues to struggle finding the landing on his front handspring double front on vault, but it will be a huge score once he puts it to his feet. Cuy nailed his Kas full, and the Tribe finished out with Kas 1.5s from Ricky Pizem (14.050), which is an upgrade, and Sam Lee (14.500). William & Mary had a great parallel bars rotation, earning a season-high 66.200 on the event and keeping them in contention if Navy didn’t have their best rotation on high bar.

However, a lead-off fall on high bar and several errors following took them out of the mix as they finished with a 59.950 on the event. Nonetheless, William & Mary put up a great team score and showed that they can be competitive with higher ranking teams.

Navy

After going against the No. 1 team in the nation last weekend, Navy was looking to relax and focus on themselves this week. They did just that, earning a season-high team score of 396.750, even with the absence of Syam Buradagunta.

The Midshipmen started off the meet with a bang as Brian Solomon nailed his front double pike to earn a 13.800 to take the title with the first routine of the day for Navy. They had some issues in the following routines, with a fall on a double front from Caleb Hickey and a fall on Matthew Rosendahl’s difficult front tuck full to double front combination. 

They brought it back on pommel horse, earning their second-best score of the season after four 13+ scores. Ronan McQuillan capped off the rotation with a 13.450 for first. On rings, Isaiah Drake made his return after recovering from an injury earlier in the season. His routine looked like he had never left, with a beautifully executed back uprise Maltese to take the title with a 13.450.

Riley Rose hit a near-perfect Yurchenko 1.5 on vault for a career-high 14.100. In the anchor spot, Matthew Petros hit a strong Kas 1.5 for a 14.600, the highest score on any event for the day. Petros’ dominance continued on the following two events, as he snagged two more event titles for his 14.000 on parallel bars and 13.400 on high bar. His strong scores, along with big numbers from Vishal Mandava and Drake, contributed to their best performance of the season thus far. With the return of Buradagunta to lineups, they are going to be tough to beat going into the postseason.

#12 Army @ #13 Springfield

Final score: Springfield: 398.550 – Army: 389.250

Army

Coming in ranked higher and after defeating Springfield twice earlier in the season, the Black Knights were the favorites to win, but they would have to work for it not being at home.

Their meet started out strong, with Steven Manolakis breaking out the highest floor score of the evening in the lead-off spot (13.500). He took a share of the title alongside two other Springfield gymnasts. They suffered a fall later in the lineup from Jaden Blank, but finished out strong, trailing by 2.65 points after Rotation 1. 

Army took advantage of some mistakes from Springfield on pommel horse and gained back a few tenths from their deficit after a pair of 13.250s from Noah Duran and Gabe Almeida to tie for second. They continued to power through on rings, sticking four out of five landings for a season-high 64.900 on the event.

Vault was solid, with Franco Peirano moving to the leadoff spot for a 14.100. Manolakis hit a huge vault for a 14.200, but they missed an opportunity to keep climbing after Johnathan Pinc notched an uncharacteristic 13.700. Parallel bars was consistent, with only one error coming from Duran after he misplaced his hand on his Stutz, coming off the bars.

Too far behind after the fifth rotation, Army was just looking to finish out strong and break into that 390 for the third time this season. Unfortunately, Tucker Blanchard struggled in the opening routine, taking a fall on his Endo kip and giant following his Tak half for a 10.500. Zachary Perez gave it his all to nearly get them to that mark after his set, nailing his full-twisting double layout for a 13.600 to take the title. 

Springfield

With the advantage of the home crowd, Springfield took that energy and ran with it, maintaining their lead over Army throughout the whole competition and ultimately posting their highest team score since 2016.

The Pride started strong on floor with an opening 13.500 from Timothy Templeton, the same lead-off score as Manolakis. A slew of 13+ scores and another 13.500 from Evan Reichert followed for a big 66.550 opening rotation. Springfield had some highs and lows on pommel horse but was able to minimize Army’s ability to catch them with Peyton Cramer’s massive 14.450 in the anchor spot.

Despite Army’s season high on ring, their difficulty does not quite match up to Springfield’s. Will Wilson opened with a beautiful set and a big double-double dismount for a 13.850 to take the win. A solid 13.300 from Sam Kaplan and a 13.400 from David Handron tallied up a season-high 66.800 for the event.

Kaplan continued his strong all-around performance with an upgraded vault in Rotation 4, throwing a nice Kas full for a career-high 14.000. Dominic Ramalho’s big amplitude on his Kas full was rewarded, grabbing the title with a 14.300. Parallel bars was a great event for them, sweeping the podium and adding another season-high total to their day (66.900). Senior Aaron Kust competed for the final time in his home arena and threw a difficult Bhavsar to join Kevin Laurino as the only two ECAC gymnasts to compete that skill this season. 

Springfield finished their day strong with another season-high on high bar (65.400), capped off with a nice 13.150 from Kaplan for a huge 80.450 in the all-around – a career high showing.

#15 Simpson @ #11 Air Force

Final score: Air Force: 395.950  – Simpson: 347.300

Simpson

Simpson had a tough time on Saturday, recording a season-low team score of 347.300. A notable absence from all-arounder Sterling Pariza proved to have a big impact on the team.

The Storm got off to a great start, in big part due to the return of Camden Bontempo to the lineup. Bontempo hit a nice Randi opening pass and a double Arabian for a 13.350 and a tie for second place. Christopher Duane suffered a fall on his dismount. Karim Madkour hit a nice set for a season-high floor total of 61.700.

After this positive start, they quickly lost momentum and were not able to bring it back. They took a couple falls on Sivados on horse from Christian Romero and Brennan Voss, and Jake Sweeten ran out of steam after a great fight on his routine, not getting up to handstand on his dismount. A season low on rings followed, with no score breaking 12.000 on the event. 

Michelangelo Villani and Bontempo carried the rotation on vault, but low difficulty from the remainder of the lineup only led to a 66.050. On parallel bars, Alex Catchpole hit a great set to break the program record with a 13.800, grabbing second place. Simpson was looking to finish up strong on high bar, but an unfortunate routine from Jack Campbell (4.300) led to their fifth event season-low of the day.