Simone Biles was dominant on the first day of the USA Gymnastics Championships, posting the highest scores on every event and hitting for a 60.1 in the AA. The Olympic Champion has a 3.1 point lead over the reigning World Champion, Florida commit Morgan Hurd.
Former Michigan star and NCAA champ Sam Mikulak leads the rankings after Day 1 at the Men's US Gymnastics Championships. Former Stanford standout Akash Modi is 2nd while former OU star Allan Bower is 3rd. Former Cal standout Donothan Bailey is 4th, while Ohio State's Alec Yoder is 5th. Defending champion and OU standout Yul Moldauer is 6th.
Link: Release
San Jose State has hired Joanne Bowers as their new Head Coach. Bowers returns to coaching after 10 years at Washington. She relocated to the Bay Area, where her son Ross is the starting quarterback on Cal's football team. She is a former Michigan assistant, Kent State Assistant, Illinois State Head Coach and student-athlete at JMU.
Link: Release
The GK US Classic is a qualifying competition heading into US Championships in August. Some gymnasts have already qualified to the US Championships via other competitions and some gymnasts may qualify with 2- or 3-event scores. For purposes of this post, the following earned a qualifying score in the all around this weekend in the Sr. Division:
1. S. Biles
2. R. McCusker (UF '19)
3. M. Hurd (UF '19)
4. S. Jones (UF '20)
5. A.Shchennikova (Mich '19)
6. A. Davis (OU '20)
7. S. Blakely (UF '21)
8. J. Chiles (UCLA '19)
9. L. Blanco (Bama '20)
10. J. Carey (OSU '18)
11. McCallum (Utah '21)
Earning a qualifying AA score in the Jr Division:
1. L Wong
2. K Di Cello
3. J Bowers (OU '21)
4 T Tatum (LSU '21)
5. S Lee (Auburn '21)
6 S Blakely
7T A.Finnegan (LSU '21) and K German
9T O Greaves and S Butler (UF '22)
11 A Jeffrey
12 S Morris
13 S Harris
14 K Chio
15 B Neault
16 L Jung-Ruivivar
17 C Alipio
18T C. Dean and K Rosen
OU has hired Chris Brooks as an assistant. He had spent last season as an assistant with the NU women. The Sooner Olympian was also a volunteer OU assistant in the past. He replace Steven Legrendre, who will take a position with the OK City Fire Department.
Link: Release
Nebraska has hired Mike Heredia as an assistant coach for the Women's program. Heredia is a former OU/NU athlete, a former assistant for the Iowa Men, and co-owner of Fuzion Gymnastics.
Link: Release
She has coached at club and college levels and served in various administrative positions.
Washington has signed Brenna Broooks and Amara Cunningham for 2018-2019. They join a class that includes fall signee Talia Brovedani, Madeline McLellan and Meaghan Ruttan, plus L10 Hannah Vandenkolk.
Jessie DeZiel, former NU gymnast, brings NCAA coaching experience from NU (student assistant) and Ball State (assistant coach).
Ball State has hired Cassandra Ringer as an assistant. Ringer was a graduate assistant at Illinois State and an athlete at West Chester.
Link: Release
Former OU Sooner Colin Van Wicklen posted the top AA score at the Men's National Qualifier on Sunday. 18 men qualified for the US Championships, with this being the final qualifying meet.
The American Classic was held this weekend at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. This meet serves as a qualifier for the US Championships, although several athletes who have already qualified used the meet as a prep meet for the Championships.
BJ Das, a former gymnast herself, has distinguished herself as a professional choreographer.. She joins the Utah staff as volunteer choreographer.
Temple (W) has named Josh Nilson as their new Head Coach. He had spent last season as an assistant at Air Force. Prior to Air Force, he was briefly named Head Coach at EMU as well as a co-interim Head Coach at PSU (where he was also an assistant). Prior to that he was an assistant at USU and at TWU.
Link: Release