GymACT 2025 Season: week 7
Weekend of February 22-23
Georgia United hosted a night to remember and Arizona, 38th year hosting their not-so-little soiree showed why they are NEVER to be underestimated at their home turf.
Quick links to this edition’s topics:
From the coaches - updates from individual GymACT programs
Stick Masters - team stuck landings
Gymnast of the week - nominations and selection
Meet the coaches - Spotlighting GymACT program head coaches
Up next: upcoming meets
Weekend “summary”
Who was where and when? (all meets took place Saturday night)
Dual Meet: Georgia United (🏆265.90) vs. Florida Storm (258.10)
Southwest Cup: Arizona State (🏆305.65) vs. Bay Area Bandits (292.60), KC United (189.50), Rocky Mountain (287.05), SC United (275.45), Washington (297.35)
I, of course, enjoyed it all digitally from the lanai and there were LOADS of great gymnastics to geek out on LIVE and in color. Most teams had their own social media live going on, but the HIGHLIGHT to me was shamelessly enjoying Kevin Riggle and JP’s awesome coverage of the Southwest Cup. Great job, Kevin Riggle and J.P. Voyles. Thanks, guys. I had a BLAST.
From the Coaches
BANDITS: team score up by 20 points!
The Bandits have had a 3-week break in their competition, in which their team members have been helping the local gymnastics community by coaching and judging at competitions. 2 Bandits were spotted judging at Kazuki Nakamori Invitational, another 4 were coaching at it! The weekend before they were fundraising at a gym in San Francisco helping with a pit cleaning! So while they haven’t been competing they’ve certainly been staying busy. After this well-needed rest, the Bandits came to SouthWest Cup with a reinvigorated lineup, and did NOT mess around. They started the day strong with a game of croquet, then at the competition went 5-for-5 on Pommels for the first time all season. They rode that momentum throughout the whole meet, and had a season-high extravaganza. The Bandits increased their highest team score of the year by 20 points, showing that they are a top contender this year. In addition to that, they had individual season highs by almost everyone on the team! List of Individual Season Highs: Victor: 10.85 PH Elbert*: 12.2 PH, 11.85 HB, 10.9 SR Ryan E: 11.1 PH Evan: 12.35 PB, 13.9 HB Usman: 11.85 FX Andrew K: 12.3 VT Reece*: 13.35 PB, 13.3 HB Savion: 13.25 SR, 11.05 PB, 11.5 FX Christian: 12.5 FX, 11.0 SR, 10.55 VT Alexei: 12.6 SR, 12 HB, 11.75 PB, 11.2 PH William: 13.25 VT, 11.85 SR, 12.1 PB *Season Debut
Some of the highlights from the meet were Savion Perea’s Ring Routine (13.25), William Pearce’s Stuck Kasamatsu (13.25), Reece Landsperger’s debut PBars and High Bar performances as a Bandit, 13.35 and 13.3, respectively, and Evan Hymanson’s massive 13.9 High Bar score that has been steadily improving at every meet.
Some other notable achievements:
- The Bandits went 27/30 on hit routines by their non-exhibition athletes
- Put up the GymACT’s Highest Team High Bar Score of the year (51.05) - 6 Stuck Dismounts - Put up their personal season high team scores on PH, SR, PB, and HB.
Stay tuned for the Bandits in Colorado on March 15th, against Rocky Mountain Mavericks and Southern California United. It’s bound to be an incredibly close matchup.
MAVERICKS: Tabor time to make money!
The Mavs competed at the Southwest Cup. Tabor made a bet on the Mavs in the GymACT Livestream. Kevin Riggle not only volunteers countless hours to run the YouTube channel, but he is now out 100 bucks! Good times! Watch the replay roughly at roughy 49 min of the Live.
On the podium:
Ethan Zenick
- 1st All Around (tie)
- 2nd FX (tie)
Evan McGrath
- 1st VT (tie)
MINNESOTA: Chilling
Minnesota was idle this week as it prepares for the 21st Annual MIGS Program Invitational to be held on the opening weekend of March. The Gophers are experiencing a similar heat wave as the Minneapolis temperatures which have warmed up nearly 60° in the last week and a half.
A balmy 44° F today has university students walking through campus in shorts and t-shirts. We are a hearty bunch indeed!!
The Iowa Hawkeyes will make another venture north to compete against a Minnesota team that is slowly getting healthier as the season progresses. ‘Like most teams around this time of year, we’re battling some injuries that have held us back in a few spots,’ said head coach Mike Burns. ‘However, this scenario has helped a lot of the younger guys gain much needed competition experience.’
GEORGIA UNITED: A very successful home meet.
This year we wanted to do something different with the Georgia United Invitational. We sought to create a positive and memorable experience for athletes, coaches and audiences. We wanted something that provided all the excitement and fun of a big college meet, enjoyable for everyone who attended.
We reached out to coaches, judges, parents, and athletes to find out what they loved about their favorite competitions, took copious notes, had team discussions and we were off to make it happen.
Friday night we got all hands on deck to set up for the event. It’s never “easy”, but it was a great crew and the set up went on without a hitch. The place looked great. Saturday everyone worked hard to make sure that things ran well in the earlier sessions and that all the wrinkles were smoothed out for the culminating event, the GymACT teams competition.
Saturday night, the energy was through the roof. Many families from the prior sessions came back to watch and cheer as Georgia United, Florida Storm, and The NC Airmen went head to head. The optional juniors competing in that session thrived off the high energy produced in the gym by the collegiate teams. It was thrilling to witness the contagious enthusiasm feeding the younger gymnasts.
We received a lot of positive feedback throughout the event. Many saying this was the best meet they’ve been to all season. SUCCESS!
As for the team competition, Georgia came out on top over Florida Storm and the North Caroline Airmen after coming from a huge deficit in Daytona.
We still have a lot of work to do but we’re improving steadily. Stay tuned.
ARIZONA STATE: Biggest week of the year.
The biggest week of gymnastics and fundraising in 2025 for Arizona State is now history! It started in the famous Rawhide event center (site of many Region 1 Championships and last year's Westerns) last Tuesday with two days of setting up equipment, scoring, hospitality, vendors, and everything else associated with running a meet with 1700 kids coming from around the country. Then everyone pitched in to help run the 4 days of junior competition from Friday to Monday.
Packaged in the middle of all this competition on Saturday night was our 38th SW Cup college competition. With seven teams and a packed crowd, the competition floor was a field of excitement. Arizona State hit pretty solid scoring their second highest score of the season with a 305.65. Washington took second with 297.35 followed by the Bay Area Bandits with a 292.6. Rocky Mountain placed 4th followed by the Sun Devils, SoCal United and Kansas City United. All the event winners went away with a local Kachina Doll trophy and a lot of great time in the sun!
We also honored all our senior athletes, as this will be the last time they compete for this team at home. A big thanks to all the junior teams, and GymACT teams that came down to support the competition. It made for a really great weekend of gymnastics!
STICK MASTERS - stuck landings in competition
🏆Bandits: 6 sticks
🏆 Arizona: 6 sticks, Sun Devil team: 6 sticks
Washington: 5 sticks
Mavericks: 2 sticks
Storm: 2 sticks and a new team bumper sticker slogan:
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but a high bar to the back of the head will get you a few stitches and staples but no stick bonus.” Ok. That may be a little too long for a bumper sticker! #toosoon ? … #sorrynotsorry
EAST AND WEST CAMPS
Registration OPEN NOW! GymACT.org/college
Not only is it back by popular demand, it’s SO popular, we had to add another camp!
This year, for the first time, GymACT is launching an East and a West conference gymact camp. Double the fun, double the impact.
Gymnasts now have a choice of the camp closest to them or, go wild and join both camps!
Register now and guarantee your spot!
Gymnast of the Week 7
Congratulations Ethan Zenick (RMM) and Evan Hymanson (BAY), selected Gymnasts of the Week 7
Nominees
Storm: Nick Irving
Nick Irving, less then a month returned to the sport has put up back to back All-Around Champion performances. Also took the High Bar title! Nick has been a valuable addition to the team, and with minimal training has contributed to the team immediately!
[photo on drive]
Mavericks: Ethan Zenick
Sophomore at CU Boulder in Engineering
Ethan Zenick is rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with in the GymACT battle in the All Around. At the prestigious Southwest Cup (formerly Sun Devil Classic), Ethan tied for the All Around title with an outstanding 6-for-6 HIT performance and 2 STUCK dismounts. He also competed the only Giant Suarez on PB being done in GymACT currently, for the first time in an away meet. This man is an unmatched talent in work ethic, rigorously training and learning new gymnastics. He is the nucleus of the Mavericks current line up!
Washington: Xander Agate
Xander Agate: is a senior who swore off PH and VT after last year’s nationals due to injuries. Well his teammates are also going through some injuries and he saw an opportunity to fill the gaps. Without being asked Xander volunteered for AA to help the team reach their season high score and close the gap in the rankings. As Xander nears the end of his career this will definitely be a prideful moment for him to remember. One of sacrifice and grit.
Bandits: Evan Hymanson
Evan Hymanson has been slowly building the most difficult high-bar routine within the GymACT League. He hit a 4.9 difficulty set, with an outstanding Triple Pike (Fardan) dismount to put an exclamation point on the routine. Keeping it clean with only 1.0 in deduction (Mostly on the landing). As the season progresses I cannot wait to see this routine progress, every competition he has been able to add 3-4 tenths of difficulty to the routine.
MEET THE COACHES:
Rich Quick: Kansas City Twisters
Like so many coaches in the GymACT community, Coach Quick has found himself in a fight. A fight to help a sport crippled by bureaucracy and financial woes at the collegiate level.
After two decades as head coach of the men's junior program at EDGE Gymanstics in Kansas City, coach Quick has taken on the additional task of trying to build a home for college aged gymnasts.
Created in 2019 KC United launched its first team with head coach Mike Thomas and 4 eager athletes. Off to a great start, KCU was making a name for themselves within GymACT only to be stifled by COVID and lockdowns.
Fast forward to 2023. The retirement of their head coach and lack of athletes put the survival of the program in jeopardy. Unwilling to see things come to an end, coach Quick has taken the helm of Kansas City United.
Having helped numerous jr. athletes find a home within the desolate landscape of NCAA collegiate gymnastics, it is coach Quick's firm belief that GymACT is the future of mens gymnastics. The community has to take the reins and get this sport back on track.
Over the summer of 2023, coach Quick scraped together a 6 man roster of retired athletes along with a couple highschool seniors to create the newly reformed KCU Twisters. After a great showing in 2024 and nonstop recruiting, KCU is back on track and poised for greatness. 2025 has been a steady year of success. Recruiting is going well and the program will be 12 athletes strong going in the 2026 season. KCU is clearly here to stay, and definitely a team to keep your eyes on.
Dav Pierre, Georgia United
Dav (pronounced with an ‘ah’ as in ‘dAHrth’ Vader) is the Georgia men’s state chairman and boys program director at Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta.
Back story:
First gymnastics class was in 2003 when I was 12
First competition was in December 2006 at age 15
I was one of the founding members of our men’s team at GAA
Competed levels 5,6,9, and 10
Pretty much played catch up my entire career
Crowning achievement- 2010 level 10 rings champion at State with a 14.1
Started coaching in December 2007
Started coaching team in 2010 and have been doing it since
Pretty much had to grow and learn how to coach on my own in this sport. Along the way I’ve learned a lot and found success
20 years from my first gymnastics classes I saw my first set of gymnasts graduate, produced my first all around regional champion, and future stars national team member
As a guy who’s always had to play catch up I’ve enjoyed the challenge of trying to beat whoever’s at the top.
In August 2024, Dav inherited Georgia United to ensure that this program remains so future athletes have an opportunity to continue their development in the sport. Coming into this program he wanted to make improvements wherever possible. Slowly but surely we’re making it happen.
On a personal note:
I was LITERALLY born into and raised by a gymnastics family. As I approach half a century in the this community, this weekend I experienced something new to me; and I would like to share it. Thanks for indulging.
If a picture is worth a thousand words these convey MUCH MORE than that. I won’t bore anyone with verbose descriptions. But here are a few points of interest from which you may draw your own narratives:
Process: better human.
Outcome: great gymnast.
Respect.
Friendship.
Gratitude.
Success.
Thank you, Trevor Ruggeri (Washington) and Christian Reynolds (Bay Area Bandits) for nearly 20+ years of LIFE and JOY! - Breeze
Up Next:
Week 8: Saturday, March 1, 2025
Don Sellman Invitational: Temple @ Indi-hio (4:20pm central) - Senior Night*
MIGSP Invitational: Iowa @ Minnesota (1:30 pm central)
*Indy-Hio will be hosting Temple at the Don Sellman Invitational in Dayton, OH. The meet will be live streamed on Instagram and TikTok. Before the meet, we will honor our seniors: Caleb Shinkle, Logan Schmitt, and David Wallace.
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