The wait is over.
After coming just short in women’s basketball and soccer earlier in the academic year, the Stanford athletics program has finally broken through with its 100th team NCAA title. That honor comes courtesy of the men’s gymnastics team, which secured its second championship in three years on Friday night at the NCAA Team Finals in Columbus, Ohio.
“I am ecstatic that men’s gymnastics was the team to reach the 100th title for Stanford,” said Stanford head coach Thom Glielmi. “It is an incredible achievement for Stanford and the fact that it was men’s gymnastics that won it is just icing on the cake.”
Stanford scored a remarkable 363.450 in the team finals, edging out runner-up Oklahoma (361.600) and third-place Illinois (360.150).
That final mark came despite a less-than-stellar start in Friday’s first event, the parallel bars. After scoring the NCAA’s best score of the year with 61.500 in Thursday’s preliminaries, the Cardinal posted a solid but unremarkable 59.950 on Friday. Redshirt sophomore Cameron Foreman and senior Ryan Lieberman led Stanford with scores of 15.200 in the event–for Foreman, it was a career best.
Next was the horizontal bar, where Stanford showed why it was the NCAA leader in the event entering Friday’s meet. The Cardinal recorded a score of 59.300, led by senior Alex Busaglia’s mark of 15.400, which tied for the best score of the night.
Stanford came through with a season-best effort on the floor exercise, which may have pushed the team over the edge in the final standings. Sophomore Eddie Penev’s mark of 15.950 helped his team secure the NCAA’s second-best floor score at 62.450, while seniors Josh Dixon, Tim Gentry and Buscaglia all posted scores of 15.300 or above.
The Cardinal struggled a bit on the pommel horse and still rings, but pulled into a comfortable lead in the vault. Lieberman and redshirt junior Abhinav Ramani boosted Stanford into the lead with vault scores of 15.850 and 15.950, respectively. Dixon, Buscaglia and Gentry then all but secured Stanford’s victory with marks of 16.000, 16.350 and 16.250.
With the win, the Stanford squad captured its fifth title in program history–the others came in 1992, 1993, 1995 and 2009. Glielmi, who took over as head coach in 2003, now has two championships.
Stanford is just the second school in history to boast 100 team championships, behind UCLA’s nation-best mark of 106. The title also continues a remarkable streak for Stanford, which has won at least one NCAA Championship for 35 years.
The men’s gymnastics team wasn’t quite done, as members of the team returned to action on Saturday for the NCAA Individual Championships. Buscaglia led the way, taking home his first-ever individual title on the horizontal bar. He wasn’t alone in earning commendations, as six Cardinal gymnasts earned a total of nine All-America honors.
As the NCAA leader on horizontal bar for nearly the entire season, Buscaglia lived up to his reputation with the lights-out score of 15.750, winning by nearly half a point. Adding to a career night, Buscaglia earned All-America honors on the parallel bar with a sixth-place score of 14.400.
Gentry had a phenomenal night as well, earning a remarkable three All-America honors with top-eight finishes on the rings, vault and floor exercise. The senior now has seven All-America honors in his career.
Dixon and Penev added to their All-American totals with fourth- and fifth-place finishes on the floor exercise, while Foreman and freshman Chris Turner became first-time All-Americans on the parallel bars and pommel horse, respectively.
The meet marks the end of an incredible season for Stanford, which regained its title as NCAA champion and established its program as one of the best in recent history.