After last season’s Nationals I needed a new

crystal ball, but instead I went to a fortune

teller that used a deck of cards. With this in

mind I make the following predictions.

It has happened, even recently, but not

very often does a team win two champion-

ships in a row. I believe that is going to hap-

pen this season. The University of Oklahoma

gives every appearance of being in a position

to repeat as National Champions in 2016.

Actually 2016 may prove to be more of a

contest, between Oklahoma, Stanford and

Ohio State, than 2015 was.

Note: Gymnasts listed in the following pre-

view placed, for the most part, in the top 8 of

their 2015 conference and/or at the National

Championships.

1. In spite of losing 8 seniors, all of whom

placed in the top 8 as mentioned above, the

University of Oklahoma returns 7 that also

accomplished this feat.

OU will also present an entirely new assis-

tant coaching staff in former team members

Steve Legendre and Taqiy Abdulla-Simmons.

Losses: Dylan Akers-5th PB-NCAA; Danny

Berardini-4th PB-NCAA, 4th PB, 1st HB-

MPSF; William Clement-4th HB-MPSF; Mi-

chael Reid-1st PH-NCAA, 1st PH, 7th PB-

MPSF; Sergey Resnick-3rd PB-NCAA, 5th

PH, 4th PB-MPSF; Alec Robin-5th HB-

MPSF and Michel Squires-1st SR-NCAA, 1st

SR-MPSF.

Returning: Allan Bower-6th AA, 4th PH-

NCAA, 2nd AA, 8th PH, 1st V, 3rd PB-

MPSF; Colin Van Wicklen-2nd FX, 7th V-

NCAA; Kanji Oyama-8th FX, 3rd V-

NCAA, 5th FX, 2nd SR, 1st V-MPSF;

Hunter Justus– 8th R-NCAA, 3rd SR-MPSF;

Josh Yee-5th V-NCAA, 7th V-MPSF; Todd

Dowby-8th V-NCAA, 2nd FX, 5th V-MPSF;

Theo Hoang-6th V-MPSF.

Frosh: Levi Anderson (PA), Jamie DaSilva,

Peter Daggett (MA), Eric Holley (UT), Grant

Kell, Yul Moldauer (CO), Genki Suzuki

(PA).

2. Stanford University is in a slightly better

position in terms of less graduation losses and

also has 7 returnees that placed in the top 8.

Losses: Brian Knott-8th PH 1st PB-NCAA,

3rd PH, 6th PB-MPSF; Michael Levy-9th SR-

NCAA, 5th FX, 7th SR-MPSF; Sean Senters-

1st V NCAA, 4th V-MPSF.

Returning: Akash Modi-1st AA, 8th FX,

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

1st FX, 7th SR, 3rd V, 1st PB, 8th HB-

MPSF; Taylor Seaton-4th V-NCAA; Dennis

Zaremski-9th PB-NCAA, 2nd SR-MPSF;

Robert Neff-7th HB-NCAA, 7th HB-MPSF;

Jonathan Deaton-8th FX-MPSF; Drew

Willoughby– 5th PH-MPSF; Brandon Beck-

hardt-6th SR-MPSF.

Frosh: Grant Breckenridge (IL), Josiah Eng

(WI), Tucker Haas (NC), Luke Sturm (FL),

Barrett and Gareth Weiss (CA).

3. Ohio State University may not prove to be

the surprise of the year, but may very well

make the most improvement compared to

their 2015 season. The obvious reason for

this is three-fold; Sean Melton and Jake Mar-

tin, with the added attraction of Jake Dastrup;

all three of whom were red-shirted in 2015.

Being the host school also has to be consid-

ered a factor.

Losses: Drew Moling-4th SR-NCAA, 4th

Pre-Season

Coaches Poll: 1. Oklahoma

2. Ohio State

3. Stanford 4. Penn State

5. Michigan

6. Illinois 7. California

8. Minnesota

9. Iowa

10. Nebraska 11. Air Force

12. Army

13. Navy 14. William & Mary

15. Ill-Chicago

16. Arizona State

17. Springfield

18. Temple

19. So.Cal. United 20. Washington

COLLEGE GYMNASTICS ASSOCIATION

N C A A M E N’ S G Y M N A S T I C S

PREVIEW 2016 By Jerry Wright 11-23-2015

OSU

2015 Champions: University of Oklahoma

Nissen-Emery

Favorite:

Trevor Howard:

Penn State

University

OYAMA

MODI

AA, 5th PB, 4th HB-Big Ten; Alex Nork-8th

HB-Big Ten.

Returning: Sean Melton-(in 2014) 3rd AA,

6th V, 6th PB, 3rd HB-NCAA, 2nd AA, 4th

PH, 1st PB, 1st HB-Big Ten. Jake Martin

(in 2014) 5th AA, 2nd HB-NCAA, 3rd AA,

8th FX, 1st V, 3rd HB-Big Ten; Alex John-

son-8th HB-NCAA, 1st HB-Big Ten; Alexan-

der Wilson-6th V-Big Ten; Andrew Rickly-

3rd HB-Big Ten, Seth Delbridge-5th HB-Big

Ten.

Frosh: Joey Bonanno (MA), Tristan Burke

(TX), Paris McGee (CT), Alex Yoder (IN).

4. Penn State University was a bit of a sur-

prise in 2015, and will start the 2015 season

as a team to watch. With the return of Trevor

Howard and Alexis Torres they will be formi-

dable. New Assistant Coach-Tony Beck.

Losses: Tristen Duverglass-4th SR-NCAA,

4th SR-Big Ten; Matthew Felleman-7th AA,

5th HB-NCAA, 1st AA, 2nd HB-Big Ten;

Craig Hernandez-5th PH-Big Ten.

Returning: Howard-4th AA-NCAA, 5th

FX, 1st SR, 3rd V, 8th PB-Big Ten; Thad

Lawson-1st FX-NCAA, 4th FX-Big Ten;

Alexis Torres-3rd SR-NCAA; Leroy Clarke-

6th PB-NCAA, 5th HB-Big Ten.

Frosh: Matthew Bunke (PA), Michael Burns

(OH), Chris Sands (PA), Alex Tomason (TX),

Wyatt Tyndall (Canada).

5. The University of California was also a

bit of a surprise in 2015 and will also be a

team to watch in 2016.

With the entire team returning including

the greatly improved Kevin Wolting and Kyle

Zemeir, the only question mark will be team

depth.

Losses: None

Returning: Wolting-5th AA, 6th FX, 2nd V

-NCAA, 3rd AA, 4th FX, 8th V, 2nd HB-

MPSF. Zemeir-8th AA, 7th PB-NCAA, 5th

AA, 5th SR-MPSF. Ryan Patterson-6th V-

NCAA, 4th AA, 2nd FX, 6th HB-MPSF;

Takahiro Kawada-4th PH-MPSF.

Frosh: Mitchell Awisus (NV), Bailey Chang

(CA), Aaron Mah (Canada), Haden McCarey

(AZ), Harrison Plate (CA), Roshan Toopal

(AZ).

6. The University of Illinois loses the great

C.J. Maestas, but has quite a bit of power

returning. New Assistant Coach-Don Osborn.

Losses: Maestas-2nd AA, 5th FX, 2nd SR,

1st HB-NCAA, 3rd AA, 1st FX-Big Ten;

Jordan Valdez-1-PB-Big Ten; Mike Wilner-

7th SR-NCAA, 3rd SR-Big Ten.

Returning: Bobby Baker-3rd AA, 8th PB-

NCAA, 2nd AA,

3rd V-Big Ten;

Logan Bradley-

6th PH-NCAA;

Chandler Eg-

gleston-2nd FX,

2nd V-NCAA,

1st FX-Big Ten

(2014); Matt Fos-

ter-2nd PH-Big

Ten; Joey Peters-

2nd SR-Big Ten;

Fred Hartville

(inj.at NCAA),

1st V-Big Ten.

Frosh: Alex

Diab (IL), Johnny

Jacobson (UT),

Austin Lober

(NM), Blake Martin (OH), Ross Thompson

(MO).

7. It is hard to put on paper that the Universi-

ty of Michigan may finish as low as 7th

place, but the loss of Adrian de los Angeles

and Stacey Ervin, coupled with the lack of

returning depth, makes this statement possi-

ble. Freshmen will have to come on strong.

Losses: de los Angeles-9th AA, 9th PH-

NCAA; Ervin-3rd FX-NCAA, 5th AA, 2nd

FX, 7th HB-Big Ten; Nick Hunter-6th PH,

1st PB-Big Ten; Paul Rizkalla-7th FX-Big

Ten.

Returning: Nolan Novak-2nd PH-NCAA,

4th PH-Big Ten; Dimitri Belanovski-3rd HB

– NCAA; Michael Strathem-8th V-Big Ten.

Frosh: (Huge class !). Corey Aurentz

(VA), Matthew Beck (CT), Brandon Burns

(AL), Emyre Cole (NV), Ryan Dunning

(NM), Uche Eke (MD), Mitchell Gornto

(NC), Justin Hopgood (OH), James Hudson

(TX), Jack Jerry (MI), Anthony McCallum

(SC), Sam Su (FL), Matthew Whitaker (AZ).

8. The University of Minnesota has had the

great misfortune to place 7th or 8th each year,

except one year, since 2008. Unfortunately it

looks like it could be 7th/8th place again in

2016. The losses of Ellis Mannon and Steve

Jaciuk are huge for the Gophers, but they do

have some quality talent returning.

Losses: Mannon-7th PH-NCAA, 6th AA, 1st

PH-Big Ten; Jaciuk-3rd HB-NCAA, 5th SR,

3rd PB-Big Ten.

Returning: Zach Liebler-3rd FX-NCAA;

Joel Gagnon-6th FX-NCAA, 6th FX-Big Ten;

Jack Metcalf-6th SR-NCAA, 8th SR-Big

Ten; Yaroslav Pochinka-9th V-NCAA, 2nd V

-Big Ten; Paul Montague-4th PB-Big Ten;

Jalon Stephens-7th PB-Big Ten.

Frosh: Michael Harris (WI), Shaun Herzog

(MA), Vitali Kan (WI), Justin Karstadt

(Canada), Ryan Wangler (MN), Ben Winkel

(MN).

MELTON

TORRES

EGGLESTON

ZEMEIR

METCALF

NOVAK

9. The University of Iowa has recently saved

its best for the post-season by bucking the

odds and earning a surprising spot in the Su-

per Six team finals two years in a row. There

is good reason to believe that this could hap-

pen again in 2016.

Losses: No significant

losses.

Returning: Jack Boyle

-6th SR-Big Ten;

Douglas Sullivan-3rd

PH-Big Ten; Austin

Hodges-7th PH-Big

Ten; Matthew Loochtan-

7th SR-Big Ten; Cyrus

Dobre-Mofid-6th PB-

Big Ten.

Frosh:Todd Beyer 11

(IA), Jake Brodarzon

(NJ), Wesley Estrada

(CA), Kevin Johnson

(MI), Ryan Ruckdaschel

(IA), Rogelio Vazquez

(FL).

10. The University of Nebraska showed

some signs, in 2015, of future promise, led by

freshman Kyle King.

Losses: Andrew House-8th PH-Big Ten.

Returning: Sam Chamberlain-7th V-Big Ten;

Ethan Lottman-5th PH-NCAA; Travis Gollott

-7th AA, 8th FX-Big Ten; Kyle King-3rd V-

Big Ten; Grant Perdue-5th FX-Big Ten-

2014-(medical year for 2016).

Frosh: Heath Anderson (AZ), Jordan King

(TX), Anton Stephenson (IN).

11. In recent years the U.S. Air Force Acade-

my has made the most of the talent it is able to

recruit, recruit under very difficult circum-

stances. Having to recruit soldiers as well as

gymnasts has to be an uphill battle. In 2015

they captured the All Academy Champ-

ionships for the 5th time and the USAG Colle-

giate Nationals team title for the 6th time. It

is virtually a foregone conclusion that they

will repeat these wins in 2016.

AF will have a new head coach in ‘16 in the

person of former assistant coach Jeff Robin-

son.

Losses: Greg Chaput-1st PB-USAG, 8th PB-

MPSF; Josh Ramos-6th AA, 1st FX, 2nd PB,

3rd HB-USAG; Gared

Chapman-2013 All Amer-

ican.

Returning: Aaron Nu-

bine-5th FX-USAG, 5th

FX-MPSF; Tim Wang-

1st PH-USAG, 7th PH-

MPSF; Arinn Wade-4th

PH-USAG, 2nd PH-

MPSF; Denis Aurelius-

1st SR-USAG; Fletcher

Braunton-2nd SR-USAG;

Josh Pyne– 1st V-USAG;

Chase Cannon-6th V, 7th

HB-USAG, 3rd HB-

MPSF.

Frosh: Large class: Ca-

sey Branin (CA), Ryan

Girouard (MA), Alex

Hess (FL), Christian

Kalustian (CA), Eric

Klein (MA), Troy Mather

(IL), Jacob Stanley (TX), Lukas Texeira (WI),

Jonah Urlaub (CA).

12. In 2015 the U. S. Military Academy had

one of its most successful seasons in several

years and prospects are that this will continue

in 2016, with a very solid group of returnees.

Losses: Connor Venrick-4th PH, 4th SR-

ECAC.

Returning: Jesse Glenn-1st AA, 1st V, 1st

PB, 1st HB-ECAC, 9th HB-NCAA; Nathan

Goff-6th AA, 5th PB, 5th HB-ECAC; Sam

Kusnitz-1st FX, 7th V, 7th HB-ECAC; Seth

Cannon-3rd FX-ECAC; Joe Pritts-6th SR, 8th

V-ECAC; Chris Short-3rd PB-ECAC.

Frosh: Colton Bradley (MA), Cole Casanova

(TX), James Gamarra (VA), Elliot Herman

(CA), Elijah-Ty Phelps (VA), Brandon Shive-

ly (FL).

13. The College of William and Mary is go-

ing through a little bit of down time, but may

see some higher scores in 2016.

New Assistant Coach-Mike Powell.

Losses: Michael Deitz-2nd HB-ECAC, 1st

HB-USAG, Peter Ten Eyck-7th PH-ECAC,

4th PH-USAG, Jason Wang-3rd PH-USAG.

Returning: Keaton Ackerman-5th PH-

ECAC, Jeremiah McReynolds-8th SR-ECAC,

6th SR-USAG; Rob Meyer-2nd PB-ECAC;

Aria Sabbagh-8th AA-ECAC, 2nd AA-

USAG; Nick Van Dyke-5th V-ECAC, 8th V-

USAG. Also Neal Courter and J.J. Jindra

(neither one had successful 2015 post-seasons,

but make W&M much stronger).

Frosh: David Allen (TN), Jacopo Gliozzi

(VA), Jack Hasenkopf (GA), Peter Makey

(MN), David Watkins (IL).

14. The U. S. Naval Academy enjoyed a bit

better season in 2015 than in recent years and

appears to have the talent to possibly move up

a notch or two.

Navy will have a new head coach with Kip

Simons switching over from Air Force.

Losses: Thomas Goodell-3rd SR, 8th HB-

ECAC, 7th SR-USAG; Joshua Steves-5th SR

-ECAC, 8th SR-USAG; Eric Viscardi-4th FX

-USAG.

Returning: Jonny Tang-3rd AA, 1st FX,

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

USAG. Eric Morrison-2nd PH-ECAC;

Mitchell Larios-2nd V, 6th PB-ECAC, 2nd

FX, 7th V, 5th PB-USAG. Frosh: Christian Correale (PA), Mitchell

Fornek (IL).

15. Springfield College will field one of its

stronger teams in recent years, in spite of the

graduation of 7 team members.

Losses: Sam Docherty-8th PB-ECAC, Pat

Ryther-1st PH-ECAC, 6th PB-USAG.

Returning: Jon Zirna-”Elite 89” co-

winner, 5th AA, 3rd PH, 3rd-V-ECAC, 3rd

AA, 2nd PH, 8th PB-USAG; Ian Stratton-4th

BOYLE

PERDUE

WANG

GLENN

COURTER

TANG

ZIRNA

FX-ECAC; Joshua Dieker-7th SR-ECAC, 5th

SR-USAG; Tucker McClure-6th FX, 5th V,

6th HB-USAG.

Frosh: Drew Carter (FL), Stephen Frost

(NY), Joe Medina (NY), Isaiah Burgess (RI),

Jannik Haas (CA).

16. The University of Illinois-Chicago has

been down lately and, unfortunately, it ap-

pears that they will struggle again in 2016.

Losses: Jason Gaides-2nd AA, 8th PH, 2nd

SR, 5th FX, 2nd HB-ECAC; Brett Valin-4th

AA, 1st SR, 7th PB, 4th V, 4th HB-ECAC.

Returning: Alex Dumstorf-6th FX-ECAC.

Frosh: Wes Diveney (IL), Steen Haugsted

(NC), Patrick Howard (CT), Ethan Sansone

(IL), Christian Winstead (IL).

POTENTIAL NISSEN-EMERY NOMINEES

Air Force Denis Aurelius

Army Jesse Glenn

California Kevin Wolting

Illinois Logan Bradley

Illinois Fred Hartville

Iowa Jack Boyle

Michigan Nolan Novak

Minnesota Jack Metcalf

Navy Mitchell Larios

Nebraska Sam Chamberlain

Nebraska Ethan Lottman

Ohio State Alex Johnson

Oklahoma Todd Dowdy

Oklahoma Kanji Oyama

Penn State Trevor Howard

Penn State Alexis Torres

Springfield Jon Zirna

Stanford Dennis Zaremski

William/Mary Neal Courter

Top returning gymnasts: (according to 2015 NCAA Nationals finals):

AA: Akash Modi-Stanford, Bobby Baker-Illinois,

Trevor Howard-Penn State, Kevin Wolting-

California, Allan Bower, Oklahoma, Kyle Zemeir-

California.

FX: Thad Lawson-Penn State, Colin Van Wicklen-

Oklahoma, Zack Liebler-Minnesota, Wolting-

California, Joel Gagnon-Minnesota, Kanji Oyama-

Oklahoma, Modi-Stanford.

PH: Nolan Novak-Michigan, Modi-Stanford, Bow-

er-Oklahoma, Ethan Lottman-Nebraska, Logan

Bradley-Illinois.

SR: Alexis Torres-Penn State, Jack Metcalf-

Minnesota, Hunter Justus-Oklahoma.

V: Wolting-California, Oyama-Oklahoma, Josh

Yee-Oklahoma, Ryan Patterson-California, Van

Wicklen-Oklahoma, Todd Dowdy-Oklahoma,

Yaroslav Pochinka-Minnesota.

PB: Modi-Stanford, Leroy Clarke-Penn State, Ze-

meir-California, Baker-Illinois, Dennis Zaremski-

Stanford.

HB: Modi-Stanford, Dmitri Belanovski-Michigan,

Jack Boyle-Iowa, Robert Neff-Stanford, Alex

Johnson-Ohio State, Jesse Glenn-Army.

Results of my predictions for 2015: Picked Oklahoma 1st finished 1st

Picked Illinois 2nd finished 8th

Picked Michigan 3rd finished 4th

Picked Ohio State 4th finished 9th

Picked Stanford 5th finished 2nd

Picked Penn St. 6th finished 3rd

Picked Minnesota 7th finished 7th

Picked California 8th finished 5th

Picked Iowa 9th finished 6th

Picked Nebraska 10th finished 10th

Picked Air Force 11th finished 11th

Picked Army 12th finished 12th

Picked William/Mary13th finished 14th

Picked Navy 14th finished 13th

Picked Ill-Chicago 15th finished 16th

Picked Springfield 16th finished 15th

CLUB REPORTS:

Listed in alphabetical order:

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, simply put,

will be heavily favored to win its 10th consec-

utive USAG Collegiate Club Division Nation-

al Team Title. It is apparently still a possibil-

ity that the sport could be reinstated as a var-

sity sport at the University.

Losses: Bryton Boucher, Jared Chin, Ty

Loughridge, Mike Repp.

Returning: Thomas Hanson-3rd AA-USAG;

Nikita Latman-4th AA, 6th PB-USAG; Daniel

Bronnenberg-3rd FX, 2nd V-USAG; Zeke

Howard-7th PH-USAG; Landon Fischer-4th R-

USAG, Zack Mollett-7th PB-USAG; also

Austin Kane, Sean Obley, Jon Voyles.

Frosh: Andrew Austin, Farrell Baker, Ryan

Dietzman, Kade Erdman-Kennelly, Josh

Havelind, Zavier McDonald, Andre Pelletier.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA UNITED

gymnasts are working hard to get ready for

their 2nd season. Their very first year was

great and the guys are determined to be even

better this year. Last year they started out

with 11 guys, and they are losing one to re-

tirement but gaining four new team members

this season.

All the guys have improved tremendously,

but one gymnast has excelled above and be-

yond expectations, Bryan de los Santos. Bry-

an will have new routines on all six events

and Coach Heinz Schulmeister is particularly

excited about Bryan’s ring routine, which will

have a 16.7 start value.

Returning: Douglass Johnson, Bryan de los

Santos , Nick Horner, Jesse Bustamante,

Micah Cliffe, Matt Fukomoto , Ben Van

Aken, Stephen Graham, Andrew Kirk,

Kevin Kichic. The New Guys: Cameron

Edwards Rae (CA), Daniel Amiri (CA), Nick

Ury, (CA), Manni Maddah. This will make

the team 14 men strong.

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY is entering its second

year as a club team and is looking forward to

a competitive year with its fellow clubs and

varsity teams. Temple continues to compete

in the ECAC Championships as well as the

USAG Collegiate Championships and the

NAIGC Championships.

Losses: Mike

Bittner-1st PH-

NAIGC and Col-

ton Howard.

Returning: Jon

Rydzefski-1st PB

-NAIGC, and

other NAIGC

medalists-Blaise

Cosenze, Pat

Henley, Casey

Polizzotto, Jakob

Welsh and Anto-

ni Wright.

Frosh: Matt Mos-

cato (PA) and Joe

Fernandes (So.

transfer-PA)

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON Coach

Mark Russo states that “I believe we are bet-

ter than last year and, with a healthy team, we

will be in contention for the Collegiate Club

title!” Washington also gained a strong re-

DUMSTORF

FISCHER

WELSH

De Los Santos

cruiting class this fall as five freshmen, from

around the world, joined a young, and im-

proving team (last year’s team improved 24

points over the previous year).

Losses: Franklin Stutevoss.

Returning: Justin Rowen-2nd AA, 3rd V,

5th HB-USAG, Carl Meader-4th AA, 8th

FX-USAG, Nick Kano-8th AA, 3rd R-

USAG, Nathan Tsuji-6th AA-USAG, Aaron

Moss-7th FX-USAG, Max Soifer, and Bran-

don Waller.

Frosh: Garrett Dee (ID), Ben Fisher (OR),

Jacob Jarrett (TX), Mike Sibley (Canada),

and Phil Chantler (England).

Photo Gallery

AKASH MODI: STANFORD UNIVERSITY BOBBY BAKER: UNIV. OF ILLINOIS NOLAN NOVAK: UNIV. OF MICHIGAN

KEVIN WOLTING: U. OF CALIFORNIA ALLAN BOWER: U. OF OKLAHOMA THAD LAWSON: PENN STATE U.

ROWEN