ECAC Men’s Gymnastics Week 10 Recap: Army edges Springfield by 0.050

As we near the postseason, the ECAC men’s gymnastics teams are showing how close of a competition we are going to see this year. Army, Springfield, Greenville, and Navy all scored within two points of each other this week, proving that the battle for the conference title will be a close one.

Here’s what happened in Week 10.

#13 Springfield, #14 William & Mary @ #12 Army

Final score: Army: 393.400, Springfield: 393.350, William & Mary: 387.250

William & Mary

After a long Week 9, The Tribe returned strong in a tri-meet at Army, earning a season high team score of 387.250.

Rings was up first, with a nice leadoff from Aidan Cuy and a great set from Niko Greenly. Greenly had a clean back-uprise straddle planche as his swing-to-strength element and had only a slight movement on his double-double dismount to take the title with a 13.250.

Floor was by far the best event of the day for them, besting their previous season best by 4.05. Will Harrington and Evan Wilkins had difficult routines capped off with full-twisting double tuck dismounts to earn a 13.650 and 13.450, respectively. The highlight of the rotation came from Garrett Kasiski, who nailed his double layout opening pass for a 14.300 to take first.

Pommel horse was a bit of a struggle, but they came back strong on high bar with a pair of 12.8s for Evan Sikra and Sam Lee and a big 13.250 for Ricky Pizem. They still seem to be working on vault upgrades, with another fall this week for Kasiski on his front handspring double front. Lee followed with a hit Kas 1.5 for the win (14.55). The Tribe finished the day on parallel bars with a trio of 13+ scores for a 64.300.

William & Mary will return to competition on March 16 to take on Navy at home.

Springfield

Springfield had a great day on Friday, earning their second highest team total of the season despite a slow start.

The Pride got started on pommel horse with a great leadoff from Jaden Laubstein (12.850). They weren’t able to build off of that, with difficulty throughout the remainder of the lineup. Pommel specialist Peyton Cramer had a few form breaks but managed a 13.0 for third.

Sam Kaplan and Cramer came back strong on rings with a stuck double-double from Kaplan and a stuck double layout from Cramer to share a tie for second with 12.95s. Floor was strong, with Evan Reichert earning a 14.0 for a stuck triple full dismount to help tally a season-high floor total of 67.300. The momentum carried over to parallel bars, notching another season high team total of 65.850. Carter Cochardo took second with a 13.350, and Kaplan took the title with a 13.450. 

Still climbing from their difficulties on pommel horse, they put in the work on high bar with a third straight season-high team total (64.750). Kaplan had another nice set (13.05), but Owen Carney took the cake with his set. The distance and height on his releases was second to none, and it was rewarded with a 13.4.

Going into the final rotation, Springfield was trailing Army by 7.650. Despite the large deficit, they ended on the highest scoring event and would finish the meet before the rest of the Army competitors. They gave it their all, with big 14.35s from Carney and Ramalho to close out the meet.

Springfield will return to competition on March 16 at home to battle it out with Army again.

Army

Friday night was senior night for the Black Knights, with many of the seniors contributing to a season-high team score of 393.400. 

Floor was an outstanding start for Army, with a big 67.550. Max Rubin was dialed in on his floor routine for a 13.6, and Jaden Blank nailed his triple full dismount for a 13.8. Franco Peirano closed out the rotation with a strong 13.4 for his last routine in the Gross Center. Pommel horse made the biggest difference in the meet, with Army besting Springfield by a little over four points. Noah Duran, Gabe Almeida, and Maddox Pabellon swept the podium, with Pabellon upgrading his set to a massive 6.0 start value to take the title (13.850).

Blaze Kennedy had the highest team score on rings with a 12.900, and Nick Lester had the highest total on vault with a 14.45 to take second. Peirano had an uncharacteristic fall on his Kas full but still managed a 13.250. Jacob Brenner led off parallel bars with a 13.3 to get them started on the right foot. Seniors Steven Manolakis (12.75) and Jackson Pophal (13.0) managed their nerves during their last home meet to finish strong on parallel bars.

The Black Knights went into the final rotation with a lead, but couldn’t let their guard down as high bar is typically one of their lowest scoring events. Tucker Blanchard continued to do what he’s done all season, hitting a strong set and nailing the dismount for a 12.6. Three hit routines followed, and then it came down to Zachary Perez in the anchor spot. Perez needed a 12.8 to surpass Springfield. He hit a clean set and didn’t hold back as he upgraded his dismount from a C to a D, knowing that each tenth counted in this situation. The risk paid off, as he scored exactly what he needed for the win. 

Army will travel to Springfield to try and take them down in their home territory on March 16.

#15 Simpson @ #10 Greenville

Final score: Greenville: 394.450 – Simpson: 362.800

Simpson

Simpson took on Greenville for the third time this season, this time being defeated by the largest margin thus far. Standout Sterling Pariza only competed on two events, causing some lineup changes that led to a a hit on the team’s overall score.

They began on floor, where Milo Staley continues to struggle with landings. He took out his Randi this week, which has been giving him problems, but suffered a fall on his opening double front. Michelangelo Villani followed and was dialed in. He stuck his opening double layout and double tuck and finished off with a stuck 2.5 dismount to earn the highest score for the team, a 12.750.

Pommel horse continues to be a weak spot for the Storm, as they haven’t broken 60 in the past four meets. Brennan Voss had a fall on his Sivado, Pariza had issues toward the end of his routine, and Staley grabbed the pommel on his dismount, leading to only a 57.150.

A season-low team score on rings followed (58.500), with four scores under 12. Rollison shined in the anchor spot, hitting a nice back-uprise planche lowered to Maltese and sticking his dismount for a 13.050 and first place. Camden Bontempo made his way back into the vault lineup with a nice Yurchenko 1.5 for a team-high 13.950. On parallel bars, Alex Catchpole nailed his double front dismount for a 13.05, and Simpson finished the day on high bar with a stuck full-twisting double layout from Jake Smith (12.15).

Simpson will return to competition on March 16 to take on Air Force.

Greenville

Greenville had themselves a day on Friday, sweeping the podium on every event except for one en route to their second highest score of the season (394.450).

The Panthers bested Simpson in every routine on floor, capped off by anchor Zach Connelly. Connelly nailed his opening front layout to front double full and nearly stuck his dismount to take the title with a big 13.85. Pommel horse was great, with freshman duo Matthew Roth (13.55) and Landon Benas (13.7) occupying the top two spots. Henry Silva had a fall on his Russian dismount, just taking them out of achieving their season best.

They had some dismount issues on rings, aside from Sergey Popov and Jacob Foster who tied for second. Vault continues to impress, with two stuck Kas fulls and a 14.5 for Logan Watterson’s Kas 1.5 for yet another title. This totaled a vault program record (71.900) and was immediately followed by a program record on parallel bars (66.750).

Kevin Laurino took a share of the parallel bars title with a 13.700 with his beautiful Bhavsar, which happens to be the only Bhavsar currently being performed in the ECAC. Teammate Jaxon Clapper shared the title with Laurino for his clean routine and stuck dismount.

Greenville finished off their last home meet of the season with a solid rotation on high bar, capped off with a perfectly stuck triple back dismount from Foster (12.95) to clinch the victory over Simpson for the third time this season.

The Panthers will return to competition on March 22 for USAG Nationals.

#9 Navy @ #1 Oklahoma

Final score: Oklahoma: 415.300  – Navy: 392.850

Navy

Up against the No. 1 team in the nation, Navy likely had a different goal this meet aside from besting Oklahoma. They are currently ranked No. 1 in the ECAC and wanted a solid team score to increase the margin between them and Greenville in the rankings. Navy is still without standout Isaiah Drake, and they’re continuously shifting lineups to see what works best for them. 

Colby Prince had a clean set on floor to tie with teammate Syam Buradagunta for fifth place on the event with a 13.6. Pommel horse is a strong event for Navy but an unfortunate mistake from pommel specialist Ronan McQuillan kept them well behind the Sooners. Rings is an event that the Midshipmen are struggling to find a replacement for Isaiah Drake, as they were only able to score a 61.850 and counted a score below 11.

They brought it back on vault and fell short again on parallel bars, with significant errors from Caleb Hickey. Vishal Mandava, however, notched a 13.55 to place third, tied for the highest finish for any Navy gymnast at the meet. After the fifth event, they needed a big score on high bar to help increase their 3-score average. They did just that on high bar, with a season-high 66.45 on the event, highlighted by a career-high 13.65 for Matthew Petros to finish third.

Navy will return to competition on March 16 to take on William & Mary for their last dual meet of the season.