BERKELEY, Calif. -- No. 3 Stanford earned a 431.100-425.650 season-opening victory at No. 7 California, extending its winning-streak against the Golden Bears to eight.
Stanford delivered a balanced performance that featured a healthy mix of experience and young talent. Among the multiple highlights were the standout performances of senior Chris Turner and freshman Akash Modi.
Turner tied or set collegiate bests on pommel horse (15.050), vault (14.650), parallel bars (14.700) and high har (14.800). Modi made his collegiate debut and led Stanford on floor (15.350), vault (15.000) and parallel bars (15.250).
The Cardinal outscored the Golden Bears in four of six events, including pommel horse (71.150-69.000), rings (71.500-71.000), parallel bars (71.300-70.200) and high bar (71.700-69.400). Four Stanford gymnasts claimed five individual titles.
It is the second consecutive year Stanford has won its season-opener at Cal.
Stanford got off to a strong start on pommel horse, led by Chris Turner who claimed the individual title. David Frankl led off for the Cardinal with a 14.400 and Akash Modi (14.250) and Andrew McCabe (13.850) had strong showings in their collegiate debuts.
The Cardinal continued to showcase its depth on floor, highlighted by Modi’s meet-best 15.350. Jonathan Deaton opened for Stanford and earned the team’s second-highest score with a 14.350, followed by Turner (14.350) and Mike Levy (14.000).
Modi’s impressive afternoon continued, leading the Cardinal on vault with a 15.000. Turner and Taylor Seaton both delivered scores of 14.650, while Michael Levy earned a 14.750.
Dennis Zaremski picked up where he left on rings last season and claimed the individual title with a 15.100. Zaremski claimed three of the Cardinal’s top six scores on the event in 2013. Modi tabbed the second-highest score of the meet on the event with a 14.650.
Paul Hichwa delivered a team-best 15.000 on high bar, followed by Turner who earned a collegiate-best 14.800.
With Cal still within striking distance entering the final rotation, Stanford delivered an outstanding performance on parallel bars to seal the victory. Modi posted the Cardinal’s highest score (15.250), followed by Turner (14.700) and Frankl (14.100).
No. 2 Oklahoma at Rocky Mountain Open
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Oklahoma collected its 14th consecutive Rocky Mountain Open title by posting a season-opening score of 443.150 Saturday on the campus of the Air Force.
The Sooners' team total finished ahead of No. 10 Nebraska (423.700) and No. 11 Air Force (423.100) and club teams from Arizona State (402.105) and Washington (367.300).
OU's team total is its highest since scoring 443.350 against Minnesota on Feb. 16 last season and is almost 20 points higher than the Sooners' mark at the 2013 Rocky Mountain Open.
"We had a great performance," OU head coach Mark Williams said. "I'm happy we put up a big score. We put on notice that we're going to be a very good team and will contend throughout the season."
Oklahoma earned the highest team scores of the competition on each event and had the highest individual score on five of the six events, including junior Alec Robin on floor, junior Sergey Resnick on pommel and parallel bars, junior Michael Squires on still rings and senior Raymond White on vault. In addition, junior Danny Berardini also took the all-around title with an 86.950.
No. 5 Penn State 431.9, No. 15 Army 410.3
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Fifth-ranked Penn State opened their 2014 campaign with a convincing victory against No. 15 Army 431.9-410.3 on Saturday inside Rec Hall. Sophomore Trevor Howard won four individual events, while redshirt-junior Nestor Rodriguez and junior Matthew Felleman helped the Nittany Lions sweep the individual event titles, winning the pommel horse and high bar, respectively.
Howard also took home the all-around title with a score of 73.250, winning the floor exercise (15.050), still rings (15.450), vault (15.000) and parallel bars (15.100). He scored 12.600 on the pommel horse and 14.350 on the high bar to close out his season-opening effort.
