As usual it is a bit of a guessing game to try

to predict how each team will fare in their

upcoming season

With this in mind this reporter boldly sug-

gests that the University of Oklahoma will

lead the pack throughout the entire season.

NOTE: The gymnasts named below, for the

most part, finished in the top 8 at either their

conference meet or at Nationals in 2014.

1. University of Oklahoma: In spite of los-

ing some quality gymnasts OU returns ten

gymnasts that placed in the top 8 in either

their conference championships or at the 2014

NCAA Nationals. This represents quality and

experience.

Returning: Jacoby Rubin-6th PB, 4th HB-

MPSF; Alec Robin 1st FX, 1st V-NCAA-6th

FX, 6th V MPSF; Colin Van Wicklen-6th

FX, 5th V-NCAA, 2nd FX, 2nd V-MPSF;

Michael Reid-2nd PH-NCAA, 4th PH-MPSF;

Kanji Oyama-9th FX-NCAA, 3rd R, 1st V,

3rd R-MPSF; Michael Squires-1st R-NCAA,

1st R-MPSF; Danny Berardini-4th PB, 8th

HB-NCAA, 5th R, 6th PB, 7th HB-MPSF;

William Clement-4th PB, 8th HB-NCAA,

2nd HB-MPSF; Sergey Resnick-5th PH, 2nd

PB-MPSF; Alan Bower-8th PH-MPSF.

Loses: Presten Ellsworth-4th FX, 4th V-

MPSF, Raymond White-1st FX, 5th PH, 7th

V-MPSF.

Frosh: Hunter Justus (TX).

2. University of Illinois: Although Illinois

does lose some important scoring they also

return quite a bit of serious talent that promis-

es huge scores.

Returning: Jordan Valdez-5th PB, 1st HB-

NCAA, 2nd PB, 2nd HB-Big Ten; C.J.

Maestas-4th AA, 3rd FX, 2nd R-NCAA,

7th FX, 2nd R-Big Ten; Chandler Eggleston

-2nd FX, 2nd V-NCAA, 1st FX-Big Ten;

Mike Wilner– 6th R-NCAA; Logan Bradley-

6th PH-NCAA.

Losses: Chad Mason-8th PH-NCAA, 3rd PH-

Big Ten; plus Cameron Rogers, Cole Smith

and Alex Varga.

Frosh: Bob Baker (IL), Tyson Bull

(Australia), Harry McLellan (NJ), Dennis

Minton (OH), Eric Uster (OH).

3. University of Michigan: This is a tough

one to call because in spite of losing about

half of their scoring they return a host of

proven talent.

Returning: Adrain de los Angeles (injured

2014, but if healthy he is a force)-2013-2nd

Pre-Season

Coaches Poll: 1. Oklahoma

2. Michigan

3. Ohio State 4. Stanford

5. Illinois

6. Penn St. 7. Minnesota

8. California

9. Iowa 10. Nebraska

11. Air Force 12. Army

13. William/Mary’

14. Navy 15. Arizona State

16. Ill-Chicago

17. Springfield 18. Temple

19. Brockport

20. Washington

COLLEGE GYMNASTICS ASSOCIATION

N C A A M E N’ S G Y M N A S T I C S

PREVIEW 2015 By Jerry Wright 11-15-2014

2015 NISSEN-EMERY FAVORITES

(to close to call)

Ellis Mannon: Minnesota: Big

Ten and NCAA Pommel Horse

Champion.

Alec Robin:

Oklahoma: NCAA Floor

Exercise and Vault Champion.

Jordan Valdez: Illinois: NCAA

High Bar Champion. 2nd place

on Parallel Bars in both NCAA

and Big Ten.

OSU

UNIVERSITY OF

MICHIGAN — Defending Champions

ROBIN

MAESTAS

ANGELES

AA, 8th PB-NCAA, 2nd AA, 5th V-Big

Ten; Tristian Rivera-7th V-NCAA, 2nd FX,

7th V-Big Ten; Nick Hunter-6th PH, 6th PB-

Big Ten; Colin Mahar-8th R-Big Ten; Paul

Rizkalla-2nd V-Big Ten; Konner Ackerman-

6th V-Big Ten; Stacey Ervin-5th FX-NCAA.

Losses: Sam Mikulak-Nissen-Emery winner,

1st AA, 4th FX, 8th V, 1st PB-NCAA, 1st

AA, 3rd FX, 4th V, 3rd PB-Big Ten; Alex

Bubnov-4th R-Big Ten; Syque Caesar-3rd

PB, 5th HB-NCAA, 7th V, 3rd PB, 6th HB-

Big Ten; Matt Freeman, Jordan Gaarenstroom

-7th R-Big Ten.

Frosh: Dimitri Belanovski (WI), Alec Krystek

(MI), Marty Strech (CA), Brennen Thomas

(MI).

4. Ohio State: OSU may have been a bit

disappointed in their showing at Nationals in

2014 so will be out to improve on that and

they just might have the muscle to do it.

Returning: Sean Melton-3rd AA, 6th V, 6th

PB, 3rd HB-NCAA, 2nd AA, 4th PH, 1st

PB, 1st HB-Big Ten; Jake Martin-5th AA,

2nd HB-NCAA, 3rd AA, 8th FX, 1st V, 3rd

HB-Big Ten; Jeff Treleaven-4th V-NCAA,

6th FX-Big Ten; Alex Johnson-6th HB-

NCAA, 5th HB-Big Ten, Evan Eigner-senior

transfer from Temple-3rd-R-ECAC.

Losses: Misha Koudinov, Michael Newburger

-9th-PH-NCAA, 8th PH-Big Ten.

Frosh: Evan Bluemel (OH), Seth Delbridge

(IN), Samuel DeWitt (MD), Josh Hurwitz

(OH), Meyer Williams (TX), Alexander Wil-

son (TX).

5. Stanford University: This is another tough

call because in spite of losing some quality

scoring they return some very serious talent.

Returning: Akash Modi-2nd AA, 3rd PH,

2nd PB-NCAA, 1st AA, 5th FX , 3rd HB,

6th R, 4th V, 1st PB-MPSF; Michael Levy-

7th FX-NCAA, 2nd FX-MPSF; Dennis Za-

remski-5th R-NCAA, 2nd R-MPSF; Brian

Knott-8th PB-NCAA, 7th PH, 2nd PB, 8th

HB-MPSF.

Loses: Paul Hichwa-1st HB-MPSF; Sean

Senters-8th FX, 3rd V-NCAA, 2nd V-MPSF;

Cale Robinson-6th PB-MPSF.

Frosh: Jacob Barrus (TX), Drew Burton (CO),

Robert Neff (WI), Ryan Sheppard (TX).

6. Penn State: The Nittany Lions are in what

probably is best described as a rebuilding

mode. They lost a large senior class two years

ago, but this past season only lost a minimal

amount. They return some strong individuals,

but will have to rely on freshmen to mature

quickly for depth.

Returning: Trevor Howard-9th AA, 9th R,

6th PB-NCAA, 5th AA, 1st R, 5th V, 7th

PB-Big Ten; Craig Hernandez-5th PH-

NCAA, 2nd PH-Big Ten; Alexis Torres-8th R

-NCAA, 7th AA-Big Ten; Nestor Rodriguez-

8th PB-Big Ten.

Losses: Preston Gall, Wasef Burbar-8th HB-

Big Ten; Adrain Evans-Nissen-Emery final-

ist, Ingvar Jochumsson.

Frosh: Very large class: Patrick Casey (OR),

Colin Coates (PA), Ben Cooperman (MA),

Joe Fernandes (PA), Quest Hayden (GA),

Thad Lawson (VA), Quinn Malm (CO), Noah

Roberson (NY), Joshua Smith (LA), Greg

Tamargo (PA).

7. University of Minnesota: The Gophers

fairly consistently finish just barely out of the

Super Six and this year, unfortunately, it

looks like 2015 will be a repeat of that situa-

tion. Having graduated about 1/3rd of their

team UM will have to depend heavily on their

large freshmen class for depth.

Returning: Steve Jaciuk-9th HB-NCAA, 5th

PB, 7th HB-Big Ten; Ellis Mannon-1st PH-

NCAA, 6th AA, 1st PH-Big Ten; Jack

Metcalf-5th R-Big Ten.

Losses: Zack Chase-9th V-NCAA, 3rd V-Big

Ten, Matt Frey-9th PB-NCAA. Also lost:

Steffen Beck, Adam Kern, Justin Morinishi,

John Scallon and Sam Wright.

Frosh: Luke Aldrich (MA), Ryan Bergman

(MN), Tristan Duran (NJ), Joel Gagnon

(Canada), Jack Kramer (NC), Yarolsav

Pochinka (TX), Mitchell Soukup-RS (TX),

Jalon Stephens (LA), Alex Wittenberg (NY).

8. University of California: The Bears will

very shortly start to realize the benefits of

having Brett McClure as their coach. It may

not be this year, but soon. The loss of

Donothan Bailey will take away many of their

top scores.

Returning: Kyle Zemeir-7th AA-NCAA,

2nd AA, 6th FX, 2nd PB-MPSF; Takahiro

Kawada-2nd PH-MPSF; Jonathan Liu-5th PB

-MPSF; Kevin Wolting-7th HB-MPSF.

Losses: Donothan Bailey-6th AA, 7th PH-

NCAA, 8th FX, 1st PH-MPSF; Jeff Langen-

stein-7th V-MPSF.

Frosh: Yordan Aleksandrov, Gagik Ghariby-

an, Nathaniel Ramil, Michael Rauchwerger,

Jacob Silvestri; all from California.

9. University of Iowa: After finishing a sur-

prising 5th in 2013 the Hawkeyes slipped a

bit in 2014 so will be looking to rebound in

2015. This may prove to be quite challeng-

ing, but they do return some scoring punch.

Returning: Matt Loochtan-7th R-NCAA;

Mitchell Landau-7th HB-NCAA; Jack

Boyle– 8th AA-Big Ten, Doug Sullivan-5th

PH-Big Ten.

MELTON

MODI

HOWARD

MANNON

ZEMEIR

WANG

Losses: Matt McGrath-4th FX, 5th R-Big Ten.

Frosh: Dylan Ellsworth (UT), Jon-Luc Garcia

(NM), Austin Hodges (IL), Elijah Parsells

(CA), Anthony Van Aacken (WI).

10. University of Nebraska: The Huskers

showed some improvement last season and it

looks like this might continue, but they really

have their work cut out for them in order for

them to finish higher. Significant graduation

losses.

Returning: Grant Perdue, Robbie Kocks-3rd

R-Big Ten.

Losses: Wyatt Aycock-8th AA-NCAA; C.J.

Schaaf and Eric Schryver.

Frosh: Joshua Everitt (AZ), Kyle King (TX),

Daniel Leal (Cali, Columbia), Alex Magsam

(AZ), Andrew Zymball (NE).

11. Air Force Academy: having won the US-

AG Collegiate Nationals

five years in a row AF looks

to be as strong as ever in

‘15, possibly even better.

Leading the Falcons will be

Tim Wang.

Returning: Tim Wang-4th

PH-NCAA, 3rd AA, 2nd

PH-USAG, 4th AA, 2nd

PH-MPSF; Denis Aurelius-

1st FX, 6th R-USAG; Gared

Chapman-3rd R-USAG,

7th R-MPSF; Josh Ramos-

1st PB, 8th HB-USAG; Jon

Spiro-3rd R-MPSF; Chase

Cannon-6th HB-MPSF.

Losses: Patrick Duffy, Tyler

Huebner-7th R-MPSF, Nick

Owen-1st PH-USAG; Ben

Zaiser-6th V-USAG and

Mac Ritchie.

Frosh: Fletcher Braunton (WA), Dimitri

Floryance, (NM), Jonathon Fornoff (IL), Mi-

chael Graft (IL), Wongsai Heur (WI) and

Arinn Wade (NJ).

12. U. S. Military Academy: Army coaches

have been building the past few years and may

have finally put it all together. Look for a

strong shot at winning the ECAC and a trip to

the big show.

Returning: Jesse Glenn-1st AA, 5th FX, 5th

PH, 3rd PB, 2nd HB-USAG, 1st AA, 3rd

PH, 6th R, 2nd V, 4th PB, 1st HB-ECAC;

Sam Kunitz-5th V, 6th HB-ECAC; Jacob Da-

vies-8th PB-ECAC, Alex Ganz-6th PB-

USAG; Joe Pritts-8th FX-ECAC.

Losses: Ian Howard-5th FX-ECAC, Kip Web-

ber-2nd V-USAG, 7th V-ECAC.

Frosh: Seth Cannon (OK), Liam Fulton

(Germany), Nathan Goff (CA), Andre

Hufnagel (WA), Nicholas Mcafee (WA) Ryan

Wilson (OR), Cameron Wright (TX).

13. College of William and Mary: May see

a slight drop in production after their excellent

2014 season, primarily due to very serious

graduations. Quite a bit of talent returning,

however. Great PH team returning.

Returning: Keaton Ackerman-5th AA-USAG;

Aria Sabbagh-8th AA-USAG, Neal Courter-

2nd FX, 1st V, 4th HB-USAG; Jason Wang-

3rd PH-USAG;

Michael Deitz-

2 n d H B -

ECAC, 3rd HB

-USAG; J. J.

Jindra-4th AA,

4th PB, 8th HB

-ECAC; Peter

Ten Eyck-2nd

PH-ECAC.

Losses: very

s u b s t a n t i a l -

Landon Funici-

ello-4th R-

NCAA, 1st R,

5th PB-USAG;

Daniel Potemski-2nd AA, 8th PH, 7th R, 4th

V-USAG, 2nd AA. 5th FX, 8th R, 6th V, 3rd

PB-ECAC. Sam Patterson-2nd PB-ECAC

Frosh: Griffin Antle (NH), Mitchell Campbell

(TX), Jake Feldmann (CA), Jake Honsberger

(TN), Jeremiah McReynolds (CA), Ryan

Metzger (VA).

14. U.S. Naval Academy: Navy suffered the

huge loss of Chris Junghans, but they return a

boat-load of proven talent—-could surprise!

Returning: Joshua Steves-4th R, 5th V-USAG;

Jonny Tang-4th AA-USAG, 4th FX, 4th HB

-ECAC; Eric

Morrison-5th PH-

ECAC; Thomas

Goodell-6th HB-

USAG, 3rd R-

ECAC; Eric Vis-

cardi-7th FX-

USAG, 3rd V-

ECAC; Mitchell

Larios-8th V, 7th

PB-USAG, 3rd V

-ECAC; Andrew

Potts-4th PH US-

AG, 7th PH, 5th

HB-ECAC.

Losses: Chris

Junghans-6th AA,

5th R-USAG, 3rd

AA, 8th PH, 7th PB-ECAC.

Frosh: A.J. Beal (MD), Noah Belman (OH),

Vadim Ivanov (NV), Andy Jones (MA).

15. University of Illinois-Chicago: UIC has

struggled a bit since winning the ECAC in

2011 and it looks like they might still be down

a bit in 2015.

Returning: Jason Gaides-5th AA, 5th FX,

2nd R, 7th HB-ECAC; Brett Valin-4thV-

ECAC.

Losses: Lukasz Adamczyk-4th PH-ECAC;

Joseph Hodges.

Frosh: Chandler Bowden (NE), Ryan Smith

(GA).

16. Springfield College: Although a Div. III

program in a Div. 1 field, Springfield always

LANDAU

GLENN

KOCKS

WANG

COURTER

TANG

GAIDES

competes with Pride and sometimes comes

out ahead. With good returning talent, this

looks like it may be a good year for them.

Returning: Jon Zirna-7th AA, 6th FX-

USAG, 7th AA, 6th PH-ECAC; Tucker

McClure-4th FX, 7th V-USAG; Pat Ryther-

7th PH-USAG; Sam Docherty-8th PB-USAG;

Andy Grabowski-7th HB-USAG, Desmond

Carr– 8th V-ECAC.

Losses: Pat Hanley-7th R-ECAC, James Hen-

nin, Ryan Ponce-3rd R-NCAA, 2nd R-USAG,

5th R, 6th PB-ECAC.

Frosh: Alex Campagnon (R.I.), Joshua Dieker

(FX), Mike Girmaldi (NJ), Chris Graff (NY),

Philip Ordonez (FL), Dan Taranto (MA).

NISSEN-EMERY AWARD

This may well be the most wide open N-E

selection voting ever. At least a half-dozen

candidates will be in the running. This bold

forecaster is forced to quibble a bit. The

strongest candidates appear to be Valdez of

Illinois, Mannon of Minnesota and Robin of

Oklahoma. The toughest part may be the deci-

sion some schools will have to make to nar-

row their list down to one nominee.

Potential Nissen-Emery Nominees

Air Force Skyler Awisus

Air Force Gared Chapman

California Jonathan Liu

Illinois Mike Wilner

Illinois Jordan Valdez

Iowa Mitchell Landau

Iowa Lance Alberhasky

Michigan Stacey Ervin

Minnesota Steve Jaciuk

Minnesota Ellis Mannon

Nebraska Robbie Kocks

Nebraska Grant Perdue

Ohio State Drew Moling

Ohio State Larry Mayer

Oklahoma Michael Reid

Oklahoma Alec Robin

Oklahoma Michael Squires

Penn State Craig Hernandez

Penn State Matthew Felleman

UIC Jason Gaides

Results of my predictions for 2013:

Picked Michigan 1st finished 1st

Picked Oklahoma 2nd finished 2nd

Picked Illinois 3rd finished 4th

Picked Stanford 4th finished 3rd

Picked Penn State 5th finished 6th

Picked Ohio State 6th finished 5th

Picked Minnesota 7th finished 7th

Picked California 8th finished 10th

Picked Iowa 9th finished 9th

Picked Nebraska 10th finished 8th

Picked Air Force 11th finished 11th

Picked William/Mary 12th finished 12th

Picked Temple 13th finished 16th

Picked Army 14th finished 13th

Picked UIC 15th finished 17th

Picked Navy 16th finished 14th

Picked Springfield 17th finished 15th

CLUB REPORTS:

Arizona State University:

With rumors that ASU

might be reinstated as a var-

sity sport this could be a

very high spirited team.

As surely as the sun rises

daily in the east ASU wins

the USAG Collegiate Club

division nationals.

Returning: Zack Mollett-3rd

FX, 6th PH, 2nd PB-USAG;

Ty Loughridge-3rd V-

USAG.

Losses: Lee Wilkerson-1st AA, 8th FX, 8th

R, 5th HB-USAG; Stewart MacDonald-2nd

AA-USAG; Stevie Gregg-4th AA-USAG.

Frosh: Daniel Bronnenberg, Austin Kane,

Nikita Latman, Sean Obley, Jon Voyles.

Temple University:

Temple Men’s Gymnastics enters a new era

this season, as the

team in no longer

varsity but now

competes as a club.

This change came

about after repre-

senting Temple in

varsity intercolle-

giate competition

for 88 years.

Tremendous ef-

forts are underway

to return the sport

to varsity status,

however.

Temple plans on

competing at the

USAG Collegiate Nationals and also at the

NAIGC Nationals in PA.

Returning: Mike Bittner, Blaise Cosenza and

Colton Howard, Grady Cooper, Pat Henley,

Jon Rydzefski, Wayne Conley, Aaron

Meland, Misha Kustin and Jacob Welsh-6th-

R-ECAC.

Losses: Evan Eigner (transfer to OSU) 3rd-R-

ECAC, John Leonard, Scott Hadaway,

Charles Baldi and Brandon Williams.

Frosh: Tim Jones (MI), Joe Luca (NJ), Jordan

Motter (PA) and Demetris Zambas (NJ).

Temple will have one home meet...vs. UIC

University of Washington: Report submitted by Coach Mark Russo:

Our team will be much better this year. We re-

cruited in Region 1 and are having success getting

good gymnasts

from California

coming up to

Washington. I

see us breaking

into the 400's

for team score

which will be

over a 20 point

increase from

last seasons

high score.

Returning: Jus-

t in Rowen,

Aaron Moss,

F r a n k l i n

Stutevoss, Alex

Maybruck, Max Soifer, Brandon Waller, Wyatt

Zmrzel.

We will be led by 5 good all arounders. Brandon

Waller -3rd AA-USAG; Justin Rowen-5th AA-

USAG; Aaron Moss-6th AA-USAG; Nick Kano

and Carl Meader. Nathan Tsuji and Max

Soifer both good on 5 events. Franklin Stutevoss

will compete on floor and vault. Wyatt Zmrzel

looks to help us pommels and pbars.

Losses: Greg Steward, Layton Oka and Peter

Moser-7th AA-USAG.

Frosh: Nick Kano (CA), Nathan Tsuji (CA), Carl

Meader (CA), Chris Ramsey (MT)

CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS Jan. 10 Calif. vs. Stanford @ California

Jan. 17 Rocky Mt. Open @ Air Force

Jan.17 Windy City Inv. @ Ill-Chicago

Jan. 16/17 West Point Open @ Army

Jan. 24 U. Mich. vs. Penn St. @ Penn St.

Jan. 24 Ohio St. vs. Illinois @ Ohio St.

Jan. 24 Stan/Calif/Okla/Neb. @ Stanford

Jan. 24 Navy Open @ Navy

Jan. 30 Arizona St. vs. California @ Arizona St.

Jan. 31 Illinois vs. Minnesota @ Illinois

Jan. 31 Iowa vs. Oklahoma @ Iowa

Feb. 1 Army vs. Air Force @ Air Force

Feb. 1 W/Mary vs. Navy @ Navy

Feb. 7 All Acad. Championships @ Houston

Feb. 7 Minnesota Invitational @ Minnesota

Feb. 7 Stanford vs. Michigan @Michigan

Feb. 8 New England Invitational @ Springfield

Feb. 13 Arizona St. vs. Stanford @ Stanford

Feb. 14 Michigan vs. Oklahoma @ Oklahoma

Feb. 14 Army vs. Navy @ Army

Feb. 14 Iowa/Minn./Neb @ Iowa

Feb. 14 Illinois vs. Penn State @ Illinois

Feb. 16 Army vs. Springfield @ Springfield

Feb. 19/21 Winter Cup @ Las Vegas

Feb. 28 Ill-Chicago vs. Air Force @ Ill-Chi

Feb. 28 International Invitational @ Stanford

Mar. 6 Mich., Penn St., Mexico @ San Juan

ZIRNA ROWEN

MOLLETT

WELSH

Mar. 6 Illinois vs. Stanford @ Illinois

Mar. 7 Ohio St. Invitational @ Ohio St.

Mar. 8 Oklahoma vs. California @ California

Mar. 14 U. Mich. vs. Illinois @ Michigan

Mar. 14 Ohio State vs. Oklahoma @ Oklahoma

Mar. 14 Army vs. W/Mary @ Wm/Mary

Mar. 15 Minn., Penn St., Iowa @ Nebraska

Mar. 20/21 USAG Coll. Nationals @ Air Force

Mar. 27/28 Big Ten Championships @ Penn St.

Mar. 27/28 ECAC Championships @ Army

Mar. 28 MPSF Championships @ Air Force

April 9-12 NAIGC Nationals @Philadelphia

April 8 CGA Awards Banquet @ Oklahoma

April 9-11 NCAA Nationals @ Oklahoma

TOP INDIVIDUAL RETURNEES (based on 2014 Nationals results).

All Around

Akash Modi, Stan Sean Melton, OSU

C.J. Maestas, Ill

Jake Martin, OSU Kyle Zeimeir, Calif

Trevor Howard, Penn St

Floor Exercise Alec Robin, Okla.

Chandler Eggleston, Ill

C.J. Maestas, Ill Stacey Ervin, Mich.

Colin V. Wicklen, Okla.

Michael Levy, Stan. Pommel Horse

Ellis Mannon, Minn.

Michael Reid, Okla. Tim Wang, Air Force

Craig Hernandez, Penn St.

Logan Bradley, Ill

Rings Michel Squires, Okla.

C.J. Maestas, Ill

Dennis Zaremski, Stan. Mike Milner, Ill

Matt Loochtan, Iowa

Alexis Torres, Penn St. Vault

Alec Robin, Okla.

Chandler Eggleston, Ill Jeff Treleaven, OSU

Colin V. Wicklen, Okla.

Sean Melton, OSU Parallel Bars

Akash Modi, Stan.

Danny Berardini, Okla. Jordan Valdez, Ill

Sean Melton, OSU

Brian Knott, Stan. Horizontal Bar

Jorden Valdez, Ill

Jake Martin, OSU Sean Melton, OSU

William Clement, Okla.

Alex Johnson, OSU Mitchell Landau, Iowa

Photos of the Week

Adrain de los Angeles: University of Michigan Jordan Valdez: University of Illinois

Alec Robin: University of Oklahoma