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The Stanford Men’s gymnastics team took second in their latest meet, but don’t fret yet. Who’d they face off with? The University of Minnesota… the Country of Japan, oh yeah and Canada decided to show up too.
Stanford remained undefeated against NCAA opponents, beating Minnesota relatively easily by a margin of 421.550-405.600. Japan was Stanford’s only real competition, and it was close, with the Land of the Rising Sun winning by just over 4 points to a Stanford team with their top two gymnasts Akash Modi and Robert Neff being limited to 2 and 3 events respectively.
The Cardinal came right out of the gate firing, posting its best score of the season on pommel horse (69.450), led by Modi’s 14.700—his 12th event title of the season so far. Drew Willoughby posted the second highest score for the red, a 14.200.
Josiah Eng once again led the way for Stanford on rings, taking 3rd in a field dominated by Japan, with a score of 15.100. David Jessen had a career-best 13.500 while Jordan DeClerk contributed a 14.750 to the team’s 70.050 event total.
On vault, Grant Breckenridge and Taylor Seaton both scored 14.550, which happened to be a season-high for Breckenridge. However that was not enough to take down Minnesota, who, while not even challenging the Cardinal for the team title, dampened Stanford’s spotless season by taking away their first ever event title.
Jordan DeClerk led on parallel bars with a 14.750, a season-best, followed by Robert Neff’s 14.550. Even without their usual highest scorer Akash Modi, the team still managed to post its highest score of the season on the event, 70.800.
Still in the running for the team title up at this point, the Cardinal was dealt a major blow by way of a few critical falls on high bar. Despite being led by Modi’s 14.500, missed opportunities by Breckenridge’s 11.950 and Jacob Barrus’ 13.000 led the team to their lowest total on the season, 67.950.
However, Stanford did manage to right the ship before the meet’s end, with Bailey Perez adding in a career-best 14.150 on floor and season-bests by Taylor Seaton (14.650) and Jacob Barrus (14.850).
The No. 2 Cardinal will remain at home as they await their toughest match yet next weekend: Oklahoma—the only team in the nation ranked ahead of them.