Stanford's Asher Hong won the men's division at the Core Hydration Classic (fka US Classic) with an 85.305. In second was teammate Khoi Young, who posted an 83.424, just ahead of Michigan's Paul Juda at 83.354. Juda took a redshirt year as he recovered from an injury. Hong won R and VT. Former Cardinal Curran Phillips won PB while former Gopher Shane Wiskus won HB. Illini Connor McCool won FX while former world champ Stephen Nedoroscik won the PH. Michigan's Cameron Bock was 4th while Stanford's Riley Loos was 5th and teammate Jeremy Bischoff was 6th.
In the Women's division, Simone Biles capped her first meet back with a big win. Florida's Leanne Wong was 2nd while Arkansas commit Joscelyn Roberson was 3rd. Auburn commit Katelyn Jong was 5th while LSU commit Zoe Miller was 6th. Florida's Kayla DiCello tied for 11th. Former AU star Sunisa Lee competed two events, placing 2nd on BB and qualified for the National Championships. UCLA's Jordan Chiles showed routines on UB/BB while Oregon State's Jade Carey competed on BB.
Link: Videos
Link: Men's Release and Links
Michigan's Fred Richard placed 4th (83.764) and PSU's Josh Karnes placed 6th (82.664) at the Men's AA Finals of the 2021 World University Games in Chengdu. The competition was originally set for 2021. China's Boheng Zhang won the with an 86.733. Favorite Daiki Hashimoto had to withdraw after two events. PSU's Ian Raubal, competing for Switzerland, placed 12th (80.131).
Earlier, in the Men's team final, the US placed 4th. No US Women's team was sponsored.
Link: Results
Link: Recorded Video (Men's)
Washington will join the Big Ten Conference in 2024, joining the University of Oregon (acro, no gym), as officially announced late Friday. Then, late Friday, Arizona, ASU and Utah officially announced their move to the Big 12, starting in 2024. UCLA and USC (no gym) announced their departure for the Big Ten roughly one year ago. Since then, the remaining Pac 12 members had explored options and awaiting a new media contract. Last week, Colorado (no gym) announced their departure for the Big 12, setting forth a rush of negotiations, with Arizona the boldest in seeking an alternative Then, on Tuesday, the Pac 12 administration delivered a media proposal that was based solely on streaming and well below what was being delivered to the Big Ten and Big 12 (and other major conferences). Money, driven mostly by Football and media rights (in turn driven by fan base, brand and TV audience) are the ultimate drivers here. With the departure of the other schools, the media contract opportunities for the remaining Pac 12 programs will be even smaller than Tuesday's offer, placing pressure on the remaining team's to seek solutions. The current Pac 12 media contract runs through the end of next season. Money from these media contracts make up a significant chunk of every school's operating budget.
As of now, the Pac 12 has become four teams: Cal, Oregon State, Stanford and Washington State. They will need to explore their remaining options while the others have secured their futures.
Link: B1G Release
Burkhart competed for SCSU for the past two seasons.
Toczydlowski, United Sports Academy, placed 5th AA at regionals and 51st AA at nationals.
Julianna Weeks, Everest Gymnastics, has had a spotty competition record for the past few years, competing one or two events. Videos indicate she's training bars.
Hill brings experience from Bowling Green and Oregon State.
Durante competed for LSU.
Audrey Guess is returning to the sport after ending her competitive career several years ago.
Addison Hewit, JET Gymnastics, won her state and regional meets and placed 1st on beam in each meet. She tied for 13th AA at nationals.
Mickayla Stuckey competed for EMU.
Rachel David has worked as the volunteer coach at Iowa for several years.
Hannah Weklar, World Class, finished 7th AA at her '23 regional meet and 36th AA at nationals.
Kylie Kratchwell served as volunteer assistant last season.
Announcement
Courtney Griffeth has served as volunteer coach at LSU for the past two seasons, following years of coaching experience gained while at Utah, Arkansas and TWU.
Emily Gaskins competed for Alabama and served as volunteer graduate coach there last season.