Team West wins third CGA All-Stars title, Zac Tiderman named MVP

The third annual CGA All-Stars meet saw the West team win its first title after beating the East, 225.825-225.550.

Once again, the competition came down to the final routines, with the West leading by just 0.025 before Nebraska’s Zac Tiderman and Illinois’ Tate Costa competed. The dismount was the key, with Tiderman sticking vs. Costa making a big adjustment, and thus, the West secured its first victory in the annual preseason meet – and Tiderman was named the team MVP.

The West also dominated the event titles, with Oklahoma’s Ignacio Yockers winning pommel horse (9.825), Nebraska’s Chris Hiser winning rings (9.8), Stanford’s Colt Walker winning parallel bars (9.65), and Nebraska’s Tiderman winning high bar (9.85). Team East had two event winners: Illinois’ Nathan Whitaker won floor (9.625) and Illinois’ Garrett Schooley won vault (9.7).

The CGA All-Stars meet sees the 15 men’s NCAA teams split into two squads – East and West – and competing against one another in a head-to-head format that utilizes the 10.0 scoring system. (Official men’s NCAA gymnastics competitions utilize the open-ended scoring system.) The competition is scored by International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Brevet-certified judges.

Continuing the fun from last year, the CGA partnered with Stanford gymnast and TikTok star Ian Gunther to award rings – seven in total – to the apparatus winners and MVP of the meet. The rings were made by Gunther from a high bar he infamously broke while training.

See the winning routines below. You can watch a replay of the meet here.

Floor exercise

Floor Winner: Nathan Whitaker – Illinois/Team East (9.625)

Pommel horse

Pommel Horse Winner: Ignacio Yockers – Oklahoma/Team West (9.825)

Oklahoma’s pommel horse specialist Yockers defended his CGA All-Stars title in addition to helping Team West secure the win.

Still rings

Rings Winner: Chris Hiser – Nebraska/Team West (9.8)

Vault

Vault Winner: Garrett Schooley – Illinois/Team East (9.7)

Parallel bars

Parallel Bars Winner: Colt Walker – Stanford/Team West (9.65)

High bar

High Bar: Zac Tiderman – Nebraska/Team West (9.85)

Tiderman was named the CGA All-Stars MVP after his high bar win. He also won the vault title at this event last year.