Gunning for the team’s fifth conference title and first since 2011, No. 2 Stanford men’s gymnastics (15-3) put up its second highest score of the year to place second at the MPSF Championships on Saturday at Berkeley.
Stanford’s team score of 426.850 was only behind the nation’s top-ranked Oklahoma, who took the title with a staggering 432.200. No. 11 Cal (410.100) and No. 10 Air Force (402.900) came in third and fourth, respectively.
Senior Akash Modi posted his second highest all-around score of the season with a 88.000 to take the individual all-around title. Modi also received the MPSF Gymnast of the Year award, becoming the only gymnast in MPSF history to earn the award all four years of his career and only the third athlete in conference history to take four titles. The senior also stands as the most-awarded Gymnast of the Week in NCAA history.
Guided by Modi and a second-place individual performance by senior Andrew Misiolek, the Cardinal delivered a 68.750 on their first event, pommel horse. The score was the team’s third highest of the year, giving Stanford an early lead.
Up next, Stanford posted a season-best on still rings with a 72.250, led by sophomore Josiah Eng, whose score of 15.100 earned him a second-place overall finish on the event. Both Modi (14.800) and junior Robert Neff (14.250) delivered their best scores of the season on the apparatus, closing out the rotation in strong fashion.
The Cardinal placed second as a team on both vault and parallel bars. Senior Taylor Seaton notched a fifth-place finish after his powerful vault, recording a 14.650. Modi delivered another season-best on parallel bars, scoring 15.450 to take second place in the event.
Trailing Oklahoma with two rotations to go, Stanford took back-to-back team titles on the high bar and floor exercise. The team’s 71.350 on high bar was headlined by Neff (14.850) and Modi (14.700), who finished second and third, respectively. On floor exercise, four Stanford gymnasts finished in the top five to bring the team score to 71.800 on the event. Seaton led the way with a 14.650 — good enough for second. Modi finished third with his 14.600, with Neff and senior Jordan DeClerk tying for fourth place with matching scores of 14.350.
With the finish, Stanford took second once again to No. 1 Oklahoma, which remains the only NCAA team to have beaten this season’s Cardinal squad. Stanford will head to the NCAA Championships in two weeks, where it will compete for national honors on the campus of the United States Military Academy.
Contact Laura Anderson at lauraand ‘at’ stanford.edu.