Season high alert!!! The Dawgs faced the Cal Bears yesterday, March 10th at home for what turned out to be the best performance of the year. The Huskies scored a huge 393.30, and Cal a 405.50. This was the second home meet of the year for the Dawgs, but this time it was a dual meet with the women’s team who bested Southern Utah by just .2 of a point. The energy, and the huge crowd made this one of the most electrifying competition these Dawgs have ever experienced.
Senior Captain Nathan Tsuji placed 2nd in the individual all around with an 81.65, his season high! Nathan hit 6 for 6 and stuck 4 out of 6 dismounts! “For my final all around performance at home, I couldn’t have asked for a better crowd, team, or coaches to share it with. Starting off with a career high on floor just set the tone for me to have a fun competition, and that’s exactly what happened. Sticking floor and vault at home were probably the highlights of the competition for me, but any day that you stay on all 6 is a good day” -Tsuji
The team started on the floor exercise with a season high 68.05! Tsuji lead the Dawgs and placed 1st with his season best 14.7. Sophomore Alex May 13.95, and Freshman Perry Lightfoot 13.6 also hit one of their best floor sets of the year. Junior co-captain Ben Bloom 13.3 had a fall on his double back but every other pass was very clean, and Freshman Kyle Hendren 12.5 narrowly avoided a fall and finished his routine strong.
Pommel horse has been the Dawgs focus for the past couple of months, trying to polish and make hitting more consistent. All that hard work and focus had definitely paid off, they scored their season high 62.50! Even though there were two falls counted their execution was definitely noticeable. Tsuji lead the Dawgs with a 13.45. Perry Lightfoot 13.15 was finally healthy enough from his broken hand to compete on horse again and showed how valuable he is for the Huskies on this event. Junior Conner Petellin 11.95 had an unfortunate fall but had high difficulty and clean execution otherwise, and Freshman Michael Sloat 11.6 made his debut and fought his nerves to stay on the horse.
Rings is definitely the most improved event this season for the Dawgs. They scored their season high 66.25 with some of the cleanest routines they’ve ever performed. Senior Michael Sibley 13.55, as season high and a huge routine lead the pack, with Senior Jacob Jarrett 13.35, Junior Daniel Gordon 13.3, Bloom 13.3, Tsuji 13.2, and May 12.75 all contributing to the high energy of the meet and the overall team score.
The Dawgs bested their previous season high by just .05 of a point scoring a 68.55. Jarrett lead the team 14.3 and placed first with is Yurchenko double twist! Tsuji 14.2 placed 2nd with his STUCK Kasamatsu with a 1/2 twist. Sophomore Kody Dominguez 13.5, and May 13.4 both had very clean vaults. Sibley 13.15 unfortunately had a fall while landing his full twisting Kasamatsu.
The Huskies finally put it together on the parallel bars, besting their previous high by just over two points with a 65.65. Tsuji, showed off his amazing pbar skills with his season best 13.45. Jarrett 13.35 has been polishing his form and hit his best set of the year. Jarrett could definitely place at nationals if he does the same routine with a stuck dismount. Sibley 13.1, Freshman Connor Pattison 13.1, and Gordon 12.65 all had very strong routines as well.
The Dawgs had 4 out of 5 VERY clean hits on the High Bar, giving them their best score of the year, a 62.30. Freshman Oscar Hemmert has consistently shown his value on this event each meet, leading the pack with a 13.0. Tuji 12.65, Petellin 12.45, and Pattison 12.4 all hit their best sets as well! Bloom struggled to stay on the bar with a close call on one of his Tkatchevs but he fought hard and finished his routine and the meet showing how these Dawgs never give in or give up.
“Our team energy, support for each other, and moral has greatly improved and i think this mentality has contributed to the confidence and general excitement we have going into a competition which in turn has improved our performance. I couldn’t be prouder of all the work we have put in and the process/journey we have gone through to get where we are and we will only continue to improve!” -Co-Captain Ben Bloom.
The Dawgs will preparing for Air Force (March 23rd) and Collegiate Nationals (March 29th-30th) the next two weeks.
GO DAWGS!!