Bears Set For First In-Person Dual Meet This Week

BERKELEY - For the first half of the 2021 season, the California men's gymnasts have been raising their hands after routines to a video screen. That changes this week when the No. 10 Golden Bears head down to No. 16 Stanford for their first in-person dual meet of the year on Sunday, March 7, at 1 p.m. at Burnham Pavilion. Sunday's meet will mark the first time this season that Cal will see its opponent standing on the other side of the gym.

Although Sunday's meet is an in-person dual meet, fans can still follow along on Virtius. Click here to view the meet.

There are other changes and challenges in-store this week. This is the first five up/five count meet of the season. From here on out, every score in each rotation counts towards the team score. Also, since this is an in-person dual meet, and the Bears will be the road team, they'll have a different rotation order as the visiting team for the first time in 2021.

For the freshmen, a trip to Stanford will be their first time away from the friendly environment of Berkeley. Still, head coach JT Okada is looking forward to the opportunity that comes with these new challenges.

"We're in the 'everything counts' mindset," Okada said. "We've been pushing them in advance of this, so nothing is shocking to us. These are challenges we'll need to address this weekend, but we're ready and excited to do it. I'm sure some of them are a little nervous, but it's all excitement really."

The Bears received more recognition this week to help keep their momentum rolling after defeating No. 11 William & Mary their last time on the mats back on Feb. 24. For the second straight week, Noah Newfeld was tabbed the Collegiate Gymnastics Association's Rookie of the Week. In the win over The Tribe, Newfeld was Cal's top scorer in two events. The freshman paced Cal on pommel horse (12.700) and rings (12.900). He also garnered a career-high score of 13.400 on floor, helping the Bears secure a season-best floor score of 66.400.

Okada continues to see Newfeld improve in the gym at each and every practice, so he is not surprised to see Newfeld earn back-to-back national accolades.

"I'm really impressed with his work ethic, his talents and his consistency," Okada said. "He's a great asset to this team, and in his freshman year, he's proving it. Coming in this year with COVID, a different preseason and a lack of a regular training regimen, I knew what the range of possibilities were with him, but I didn't know what would shake out. It's a testament to his resilience of what he could accomplish this season in spite of those challenges."

In addition to Newfeld, Okada will look to his veteran leaders like team captain Caleb Rickard, as well as Yu-Chen Lee and Kyle Abe to continue to boost the Bears. Similar to Newfeld, Lee also paced Cal in two events last week – vault (personal-best 14.050) and parallel bars (13.550). Lee's parallel bars score led all gymnasts in the meet. Abe posted a career-best and meet-best 13.750 on floor against William & Mary. Rickard's 14.600 on vault earlier this season remains Cal's top mark in any event in 2021.

Cal returns to Berkeley for the next two weeks following Sunday's trip to Stanford. The Bears host No. 13 Air Force in a virtual meet on Saturday, March 13, at 3 p.m. from Haas Pavilion, followed by an in-person dual meet against No. 1 Oklahoma on Saturday, March 20, at 3 p.m. from Haas Pavilion. Due to local health guidelines, fans are not allowed to attend home events.

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Players Mentioned

Kyle Abe

Yu-Chen Lee

Noah Newfeld

Caleb Rickard

California Golden Bears Athletics