Swinging full speed forward from their two consecutive wins these last two weekends against No. 9 California (twice) and No. 19 NorCal United, No. 1 Stanford men’s gymnastics look to land a third win against No. 9 California for the third time this season this Sunday at 6 p.m. at Berkeley.
Clearly upholding their No. 1 NCAA rank, the boys absolutely dominated in all six events at the annual Stanford Open in Burnham Pavilion last Saturday, receiving a total of 406.300, leaving the Golden Bears (395.750) lost in the trees.
Senior Grant Breckenridge received an individual score of 79.850, winning the event title in his best event, parallel bars (14.200), for the second consecutive week. Not only did he finish the meet second in high bar (13.400), but also second in the collegiate all-around with that score.
Sophomore Thomas Lee, a Bay Area local and the product of the Stanford Boys’ Gymnastics Club played to the home field advantage as he secured the third event title of his career as he landed a career-best 14.300 in the rings.
The men, however, showed to be the most powerful in the vault as juniors Connor Lewis and Bailey Perez each registered 14.500 and 14.200, respectively, helping the Cardinal accumulate 71.300 points to sweep the vault.
Catch the radiant ringing, fantastic floor routines, and voracious vaulting of the men’s team this Sunday at 6 p.m. at Berkeley.
On the other hand, as a fairly young team, No. 24 Stanford women’s gymnastic team has a tough fight up ahead against No. 2 UCLA this Sunday at 4pm in Maples Pavilion for their first home meet of the season.
Starting the season off strong with two wins, a win against NorCal and a tri-meet win against Sacramento State and Seattle Pacific, the girls came swinging into a close meet with the No. 12 Cal Golden Bears in their Pac-12 opener, hanging with them from start to finish but unfortunately were not able to pull off the upset.
As they brawled with the Bears, the girls topped 195.000 for the first time, finishing first in floor exercise (49.175) and vault (49.150). Sophomore Rachael Flam shared first on vault (9.875) and placed second on beam and all-around (39.150). Winning her third consecutive all-around title, sophomore Kyla Bryant had a spectacular meet, finishing fifth or higher in each of her events, pulling her up to eight titles this season.
Moving off this momentous fiery cardinal spirit, the Cardinal still must brace themselves for their Sunday meeting with the Bruins.
Contact Asia Zhang at asiaz ‘at’ stanford.edu.