GymACT 2025 Season: week 9
Weekend of March 8-9
The nation’s heavy hitters were brought together in neutral territory and what a battle it was! NIU hosted a GREAT event! The format included GymACT teams and Juniors sharing the competition floor. It was fun, exciting and electrifying. Best of all, the WHOLE THING was webcast live on the GymACT youtube channel (courtesy of Zack McCue of NIU). THANKS.
Quick links to this edition’s topics:
Stick Masters - team stuck landings
From the coaches - updates from individual GymACT programs
All-Stars - GymACT East Vs. West Competition
College bound camps - East and West Summer Camps
Gymnast of the week - nominations and selection
Meet the coaches - Spotlighting GymACT program head coaches
Up next - upcoming meets
Week 9 summary
Who was where and when?
Saturday, March 8, 6:30pm Central
NIU Invitational: Minnesota (🏆306.50), Arizona State (300.50), Iowa (292.60), Northern Illinois (280.60), KC United (3-up team) 128.5000
More ranking information on roadtonationals.com/results/standingsGA/
NIU Invite was SO fun to watch. The mano-a-mano Arizona vs. Minnesota, of course, had me on the edge of my hammock from start to finish. AND hot on the trail and NOT to be overlooked, the boys from Iowa. They continue to turn heads wherever they go, steadily and consistently climbing on the national board. Iowa put out a season high team score and took away the third place podium spot from the host team.
NIU, in their own right, also had a great meet and scored their team season high in front of the enthusiastic crowd. Congratulations fellas. And how fun to see Kansas City guys doing their thang. Great gymnastics from that team and more to come!
It was a tight meet all the way to the 5th event. Then, on the Arizona side, mistakes were made (the pommel horse strikes again!) and Minnesota wasted NO time adding to their already hot streak of routines, bing, bank, boom! Minnesota takes gold!
Is this a sign of what’s to come? Have the winds shifted? Or is it just a wake up call? Will Arizona reignite the flames and rage across the land come championship time?
OOOOOHhhhh… I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Thank you, NIU for putting up such a great meet. The stream was clean and engaging. I loved watching the back and forward of GymACT and Junior athletes. Also, what a treat it was to see the Wisconsin Flippers in the midst. They are a GymACT probational program, ironing out the kinks as they ready to join the league in a not-too-distant future. Stay TUNED!
Watch the meet on our youtube channel. It’s in two parts, so be sure to check out both of them.
NIU Invite 2/2: https://www.youtube.com/live/A8OAUCBX46k?si=0UqNSPv__SfTmU4_
On other season news and, equally exciting to me, is that the official results are in and the EAST & WEST conference All-Star teams are set. Congratulations to all who participated in the qualifying process and to the gymnasts who made the coveted team spots: LET’S GOOOOOOO!!!!!!
The competition will be in tandem with the NAIGC national festival. Never seen it? It’s a loud and exciting weekend of gymnastics. This year it will take place in Pittsburg, PA and the GymACT session will be held on Saturday night. More info: https://naigc.org/nationals-2025
And that’s how I see it from a rock in the middle of the pacific.
Breeze
STICK MASTERS
🏆Minnesota: 11 (and 5 from the Gopher team)
Arizona: 3
NIU: 2
Bay Area Bandits:2
From the Coaches
MINNESOTA:
The Minnesota Men's GymACT Team came to the 2025 NIU Invitational in a strange spot. Based on the National Rankings prior to the meet, Minnesota was ranked #2 while Arizona State was ranked #1. ASU had been putting up a series of 300+ team scores and Minnesota had only done it once, the week prior. So, for all intents and purposes, Minnesota was coming into the meet as the underdog. No one would have argued that point based on the way the season was shaping up. Yup, Minnesota was definitely the underdog in this meet. However, there was a small group of young men known as the Minnesota Men's Gymnastics Team that definitely felt the underdog position was worth arguing about. The argument didn't take place verbally but it took place on the competition floor where Minnesota took advantage of some improved health in a few areas and a team spirit that continues to stay strong throughout the trials and tribulations of a competitive season.
When the dust settled, Minnesota made a statement with a victory over the number 1 ranked Sun Devils of Arizona State, keeping their second consecutive undefeated regular season streak alive!!! Not only did they defeat the #1 team in the land, but they also posted victories over Iowa, Northern Illinois, and Kansas City, leaving the Minnesota Gophers with an unblemished 17 & 0 record for the regular season.
ARIZONA
Arizona State traveled up to the Chicago area to compete against NIU, Minnesota, Kansas City, Iowa, and Wisconsin. We had a bit of a rough meet on floor, PH and vault, but had three really good events and finished strong on rings. Even though the team struggled, we ended up scoring in the 300’s for the fourth meet this season.
But once the competition was done we enjoyed pizza Chicago-style at Gino’s East. Getting a little sleep, we set our sights on enjoying the great city of Chicago on Sunday. Starting with a ride to the top of the Sears tower we entertained everyone with backflips on the sky deck. Then we took a wonderful boat ride tour down the Chicago river where WE were entertained with a nut who jumped off the bridge in front of our boat into the nasty river! Then we visited the infamous Bean in Millennium Park and walked around the loop enjoying the great weather we brought up with us! What could be better than finishing this trip with a fun dinner at Ricobene’s on the south side before heading to the airport and catching our flight back to warm Arizona.
All in all a great weekend of Gymnastics, sightseeing and great food!
BANDITS
The Bay Area Bandits had another off-week from competition. However, Toma Murakawa and Panteley Kolodi stayed busy competing in the Star-Studded Stanford International Collegiate Meet. With Panteley scoring a 77.6 to get 6th in the AA.
Simultaneously, 3 of the Bandits were helping run an NAIGC Meet in the East Bay with the Cal Club Gymnastics Team. Where Andrew Kerzhner stuck his Tusk Full.
Stay tuned for the Bandits final regular season competition of the year at Colorado against their 2 closest rivals, Rocky Mountain and Southern California United! March 15th at Extreme Altitude in Lafayette, CO at 7 PM Mountain Time.
IOWA
Last Saturday, the Hawkeyes competed in their final regular season competition of the year, taking on Minnesota, Arizona State, Northern Illinois, Kansas City, and Wisconsin at the NIU Invitational. Iowa finished third in the team competition with a season high of 292.6, behind Arizona State’s 300.5 and Minnesota’s 306.5 team scores. The Hawks did however dominate over NIU’s 280.6 and KC’s 128.5 scores at the event.
Iowa did manage to find themselves back on the podium with a couple of event finishes as well. This includes the floor where Raif Schaffner scored a MASSIVE 14.2 to win the event, with Gabe Fry scoring a 13.8 for a third place finish. Moving over to rings, freshman Harrison Brandt scored himself a 12.8, landing him tied for third in the event. Finally, Raif again found himself atop the podium in the all around competition thanks to his 74.0 combined score, which by the way was 2.8 higher than second place!
Additionally, the Hawkeyes scored a 52.6 this weekend on floor exercise. This not only was the highest team score on the event for the weekend by nearly two points, but is the second highest floor score in the country this season across all GymACT teams, and moves them up to third in the Road To Nationals rankings as a team on the event!
Iowa has some much needed down-time ahead of them before going into postseason competitions. On March 26th, stay tuned for a regular season recap highlighting all of the individual and team successes Iowa has had so far, as well as a preview of what is to come for the remainder of the season.
2025 ALL STAR MEET
We had record numbers in terms of participation in the qualification process this year. Congratulations to all participants and, without further ado, here are this year’s GymACT All Star Rosters:
WEST TEAM ROSTERFrom Arizona: Mark Davis Hunter Flechsig Nicky Franz Will Howard Zachary Litwin Izaiha Mlay Caden Peacock From Bay Area: William Pearce From Mavericks: Evan McGrath Gavin Robey Ethan Zenick From Washington: Adrian Facundo Carter Hawthorne Andrew Layman Drake Miesel Zachary Murray Trevor Ruggeri Alternates: Evan Lacey, Arizona Riley Lineman, Washington Justin Smith, Arizona Xander Agate, Washington Oscar Coromina Pujol, Washington Eli Deehr, Washington Bradley Stroud, Washington | EAST TEAM ROSTERFrom Florida: Joshua George From Iowa: Gabe Fry Parker Mueller From Minnesota: Paul Acker Owen Frank Jack Gagamov David Grossman Caleb Gurman Justin Lancisi Ben Letvin Anthony Nicholas Luke Pedersen Joseph Pennell Zachary Smollin From NIU: Jerid Enyard From NYA: Ryan Dugan Ethan Rio From Temple: Evan Zakrewski Alternates: David Wallace, Indy-Hio Jake Porrey, Iowa Max Racutt, Iowa Ethan Rolandelli, Iowa Raif Schaffner, Iowa Aaron Novick, Minnesota Noah Wills, Minnesota Ryder Jencik, NYA Landon Brady, Temple |
EAST TEAM LINE-UPS
Floor Exercise Anthony Nicholas Joseph Pennell Zachary Smollin Caleb Gurman Gabe Fry | Pommel Horse Paul Acker Joshua George Ben Letvin Jerid Enyard Owen Frank | Still Rings Ryan Dugan Owen Frank Joshua George Ben Letvin David Grossman |
Vault Ben Letvin Caleb Gurman Justin Lancisi Ryan Dugan Parker Mueller | Parallel Bars Anthony Nicholas David Grossman Luke Pedersen Joseph Pennell Ethan Rio | Horizontal Bar David Grossman Jack Gagamov Justin Lancisi Ben Letvin Evan Zakrewski |
WEST TEAM LINE-UPS
Floor Exercise Will Howard Ethan Zenick Andrew Layman Nicky Franz Hunter Flechsig | Pommel Horse Zachary Litwin Mark Davis William Pearce Carter Hawthorne Nicky Franz | Still Rings Nicky Franz Zachary Murray Gavin Robey Hunter Flechsig Drake Miesel |
Vault Evan McGrath Izaiha Mlay Caden Peacock Adrian Facundo Nicky Franz | Parallel Bars Hunter Flechsig Will Howard William Pearce Ethan Zenick Caden Peacock | Horizontal Bar William Pearce Hunter Flechsig Caden Peacock Trevor Ruggeri Izaiha Mlay |
The popularity of the GymACT All Star Meet continues to grow year by year, but now the field is SET. GymACT athletes from 11 (of the 15) programs will be competing. It’s the most we ever had in terms of team representation and each spot was rightfully EARNED. The meet will be fierce. The conference pride is on the line!
Last year numbers were pretty close (WEST took the crown). Who will come out on top this time around???
The meet will take place in conjunction with the NAIGC National Festival. The GymACT session is Friday night, April 4th, 2025. We will be recording the routines during the meet and a little later on presenting the meet on our youtube channel.
Keep an eye on our social media channels as we get closer for more All Star meet announcements.
IG: @gymact
FB: @GymACTeams
YT: @GymACT
EAST AND WEST CAMPS
Registration OPEN NOW!
We're bringing the action closer to YOU!
This year, for the first time, GymACT is launching East Conference (Cincinnati, OH) and West Conference (Lafayette, CO) summer camps. Double the fun!
As with previous years, ALL of the GymACT programs will be represented, only now gymnasts may choose a deeper training opportunity with the coaches from the geographic area closest to them. Or, go to both camps and get experience DOUBLE the college recruiting opportunity!
Register now and guarantee your spot!
Gymnast of the Week 9
Nominees
NIU: Jerid Enyard
Senior Jerid Enyard had an incredible night at NIU Invitational. Jerid hit a huge pommel horse routine scoring 12.5 (2nd). Jerid has been battling a shoulder injury and was finally able to compete rings at his senior night scoring a 12.1 (13th). Jerid helped lead the team to a season high score of 280.6. Go Huskies!!
Minnesota: Jack Gagamov
Jack Gagamov was instrumental in Minnesota's victory over #1 ranked Arizona State in this weekend's epic battle at the NIU Invitational. The Gophers knew this would be a competition for the ages and if they wanted to keep their regular season unbeaten record alive, everyone on Minnesota's team would have to be kicking it out on all cylinders. Jack took this to heart and found a few more cylinders under the hood when he saluted the judge and proceeded to swing a high bar set to be remembered! The precision he showed on his inbar work to get the routine underway was only matched by the courage he showed on his high flying release moves that had the entire DuPage County Fairgrounds crowd on the edge of their seats. As Jack confidently cranked up for the coup de grace with his huge dismount, the crowd held in a collective gasp as they waited to see if the landing would warrant the judge's green flag, signifying the defining moment of a well-executed routine - the STUCK dismount. When Jack landed and drilled that stick in the AAI 10 cm throw mat, the entire crowd joined the Minnesota Team Bench in the biggest whoop-fest of the night. It truly was deserving of a spot on today's ESPN Top 10 moments, and Jack was awarded the gold medal on high bar with a score of 13.3, as well as the Doug Kieso Outstanding Performance Award of the meet.
MEET THE COACHES:
MIKE BURNS: Minnesota Golden Gophers
Iowa's head coach Tom Dunn gave Minnesota head coach Mike Burns his first collegiate coaching job back in 1980 when Tom first got the head coaching job at Iowa. Burns was Dunn's top assistant coach for 11 years from 1980 - 1991.
"Tom had been the assistant coach at Penn State, where I competed, up until the start of my senior year. We kept in touch after he moved on to coach at Iowa and after I was done with my eligibility I asked if he might need some help coaching his new team. To my surprise he said yes and the rest is history!!”
Up Next:
Week 10: Saturday, March 15, 2025
Mavericks State Open: Rocky Mountain Mavericks vs. Bay Area Bandits, NY Alliance, SC United
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