Nation's Top-Two Win Season Openers
Photo: Brody Malone, Stanford (Courtesy Stanford Athletics)
MPSF Men's Gymnastics Weekly Release 1 (PDF)
BRANDON BRIONES OF STANFORD
MPSF GYMNAST OF THE WEEK
Stanford freshman
Brandon Briones (Gilbert, AZ) led the Cardinal to a 407.300-382.850 season-opening victory over California at the annual Cal Benefit Cup (Jan. 11). Briones starred in his collegiate debut, winning the all-around title with a score of 82.400 – the second-best mark in the nation, including first among freshmen. Briones won event titles on floor (13.750), rings (13.850) and vault (14.750). He added third-place results on pommel horse and parallel bars. He finished the week with the best vault score in the nation, fifth-best mark on rings, and sixth-best on parallel bars (13.800). This is the first career MPSF award for Briones...
Others Nominated: Frankie Valentin (AFA); Alexei Vernyi (OU)…
NATION’S TOP-TWO COLLECT SEASON-OPENING WINS
No. 1 OKLAHOMA topped No. 5 Nebraska, No. 6 Minnesota, host No. 13 Air Force and No. 17 Washington with a final tally of 409.900 at the Rocky Mountain Open (Jan. 11)...With the victory, OU claimed its 20th Rocky Mountain Open title in the past 21 editions of the meet, while head coach
Mark Williams surpassed 500 career wins…
Alexei Vernyi finished first among NCAA gymnasts in the all-around with a career-high 81.300…Vitaliy Guimaraes won or shared three event titles, scoring 14.500 on floor (with Gage Dyer), 13.800 on rings, and 14.700 on vault…Dyer also tied for the high bar title
(13.900)…As a team, OU scored a meet-best on floor with 71.500…
No. 2 STANFORD won a dual meet at California, 407.300-382.850, in the season-opening Cal Benefit Cup (Jan. 11)…The defending NCAA Champion Cardinal swept the individual event titles, led by freshman Brandon Briones in his collegiate debut who won the floor (13.750), rings (13.850), vault (14.750), and all-around (82.400)… Brody Malone, the reigning MPSF Gymnast of the Year, won the parallel bars title with a score of 14.350…Andrew Bitner and Ian Gunther shared the high bar crown (13.400)… Freshman
Riley Loos was the final event winner for the Cardinal, registering a first-place 13.500 on pommel horse in his collegiate debut.
No. 10 CALIFORNIA totaled 382.850 to kick-off the season in its annual Cal Benefit Cup…
Asad Jooma posted Cal's best mark of the night on vault with a 14.000…Right behind Jooma was
Caleb Rickard who notched a career-best 13.900 in the event, leading to Cal’s best team score of 68.700…The Bears host Air Force Saturday (Jan. 18).
No. 11 AIR FORCE opened the 2020 season with a 381.900 at its 50th-annual Rocky Mountain Open (Jan. 11), placing fourth of five collegiate teams…Frankie Valentin led the Academy in five of six events, on his way to finishing fourth in his all-around debut (78.550)…Valentin’s best event finish of the night came on the pommel horse, as he posted a career-best 13.600 to finish fifth in the full 35-gymnast field.