The Weekly All-Around

NCAA Men’s Summary - Week 1, 2025

It’s January, which means it’s time for the next NCAA men’s gymnastics season! Although, viewers might see individual or team scores and notice a drop off compared to last season. As gymnastics fans know, we are now entered into the next Olympic cycle, which means a major update to the Code of Points has been applied. Scores will be lower across the globe for the next four years for a multitude of reasons. First, the FIG has decided that the number of counting elements in routines on all apparatus’ (besides vault) will drop from ten to eight. Essentially, athletes have two less skills to increase their start value. To make up for shorter routines, viewers can expect to see more difficult dismounts from athletes, as their element group value will now be equal to the value of that dismount on all events except for floor and vault. For example, a triple back dismount off of rings is a “G” element and will receive 0.7 for the value of the skill, and an additional 0.7 for the element group! Coinciding with the FIG, the NCAA has also released a few new major rules of their own:

• Team scoring format reduced to four counting scores instead of five

• “C” (or higher) elements required to fulfill Element Groups 2-3 (and Element Group 4 on Floor) on every apparatus besides vault 

With these new rules laid out, what happened in Week 1?

OU Dominance

The Oklahoma Sooners led the field of teams competing in week one, after defeating Air Force and displaying a wonderful 318.200 team score. The Sooners were pre-season favorites to be one of the true contenders for the National Championship this season, and they’re off to a great start. The best part for OU? The team competed without standouts Fuzzy Benas and Emre Dodanli due to injuries. Nonetheless, the Sooners took all six individual event titles in their competition - with six different athletes for that matter. If Oklahoma is able to remain consistent and get healthier, they’ll remain in title contention all year long. 

Ohio State Standouts

The Ohio State Buckeyes had an INCREDIBLE competition at this year’s West Point Open! Posting the second-highest team score of the season thus far, OSU’s 315.800 certainly opens some eyes in the B1G title hunt, and potentially even a national title hunt. They were led by senior Kameron Nelson and sophomore Drake Andrews, the top two all-around finishers of the week. Andrews and Nelson both qualified individually to this year’s Winter Cup elite competition with 77.700 and 77.100 all-around totals, respectively. 

Arguably the biggest storyline of Week 1 was Kameron Nelson’s floor routine, where he made HISTORY by being the first person to ever compete two triple somersaults in one routine! Nelson successfully landed both of these passes, and continued to thrill the audience throughout the routine on his way to a 13.800. Nelson tied Penn State’s Michael Artlip for the highest floor score in all of Week 1. 

Pommel Horse Greatness

Another top headline was the mastery of pommel horse shown throughout the country! Leading the nation was OSU’s Parker Thackston who earned a massive 14.500. Following close behind were Oklahoma’s Ignacio Yockers (14.450) and Air Force’s Patrick Hoopes (14.350). All three of these athletes are simply world-class on pommel horse - very few NCAA pommel routines will score in the 14's this entire season. Could we be watching the next Stephen Nedoroscik grow in front of our own eyes?

New Faces, Immediate Impacts

Many teams had stellar routines from athletes in their first competition with their respective teams. Notable freshmen include Michigan’s Carson Eshleman and Solen Chiodi, Oklahoma’s Arthur Ballon, William & Mary’s Luke Tully, and Greenville’s Brayden Erickson. One notable transfer is Kellen Ryan, who in his senior season has transferred from the Minnesota GymACT team to Penn State and the NCAA. Ryan competed in the all-around in Week 1 and scored a 76.200. Tune in this weekend to see all 15 NCAA teams in action at various meets, including two more Winter Cup Qualifiers in the Rocky Mountain Open and Windy City Invitational!

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Written by Aiden Whitehead

Principal Staff Writer for TURN

About Aiden

Hello gymnastics fans! I’m Aiden and I’m super excited to join the team at TURN as the 'Principal Staff Writer'. I began competing gymnastics at the age of six and immediately fell in love with the sport. I am currently in the midst of my senior season as a competitor, serving my third year as a team captain for the Georgia United GymACT team. Last December, I graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management, with Sports Media Certification as well. I've already acquired a few years of media experience, working a variety of roles with GymACT, Virtius, and Neutral Deductions. In addition to competing, I am an active women’s team coach at Oconee Gymnastics Center, as well as the Technical Director of the Georgia Men’s Gymnastics Judging Association. Evidently — even though I am competing, coaching, and judging — I can never get enough of this sport, so I’m excited to take this new role as well!