Stanford men’s gymnastics, along with Cal men’s gymnastics and the national teams of Canada, Finland, Japan and Norway, competed at Burnham Pavilion in front of over 1,000 fans on Saturday.
If Stanford University was a country, Stanford athletes’ performances in the 2012 London Olympics would have placed the University among the top 20 nations in the medals tally, with 12 gold medals going to Stanford athletes.
It’s no surprise, then, that Stanford’s loss to Japan’s collegiate all-star team at Saturday’s meet was so narrow. The Japanese team edged past Stanford men’s gymnastics by just under four points to beat Stanford’s score of 443.65. Just as importantly, however, Stanford edged archrival Cal’s 429.20 by more than 14 points.
Freshman Akash Modi had a particularly strong performance, earning his fourth all-around title of the season, reaching the NCAA top score of the season of 91.35 to finish .05 ahead of Shohei Fujiwara of Japan. Modi is the only gymnast in the NCAA to have scored over 90 points this season and has now done so twice.
Freshman Taylor Seaton and senior Sean Senters both placed in the top five in the vault, coming in third and second, respectively, while sophomore Dennis Zaremski finished in second place on the rings. Junior Brian Knott and senior Chris Turner also contributed career-best performances on the high bar and pommel horse, respectively.
Stanford’s next home meet will be on Saturday, March 8, hosting Ohio State, Arizona State and Cal.