BERKELEY – California men's gymnastics has its work cut out for it this weekend as the Golden Bears head into the 2023 postseason. A month and a half after its first trip to the Air Force Academy in Colorado, the team returns on Saturday for the star-studded MPSF Championships, in which they will face tough competition in host Air Force, No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Stanford. The first rotation is scheduled for 3 p.m. PT.
 
Although all three other teams boast formidable rosters, the Bears will bring their own stars to the show in College Gymnastics Association (CGA) Regular-Season All-Americans Noah Newfeld (all-around) and Jasper Smith-Gordon (vault). Cal's pommel horse squad has also come into its own this season, having set four new program top 10s to date; currently, the entire modern program record book in the event belongs to current Bears, with three scheduled competitors (seniors Will Lavanakul and Noah Sano, junior Aidan Li) having compiled the majority of those scores.
 
Due to injuries to key veterans throughout the year, some of the rookies have been presented with the opportunity to make their marks early. Smith-Gordon, a sophomore who sat out his entire freshman year due to injury, burst onto the scene by setting Cal's modern program vault record with his score of 14.850 on March 4. He earned two CGA weekly awards (Co-Rookie, Co-Specialist) and an MPSF weekly nod (Specialist) following that performance; to date, he has collected four vault titles this season and owns four of the program's top-10 vault scores. Freshman Theodor Gadderud, who competes regularly on floor, vault, parallel bars and high bar, has two MPSF Freshman of the Week honors to his name, while classmate Khalen Curry's debut season included a score of 14.700 on vault (at that time a modern program record) on Feb. 17.
 
Regardless of this Saturday's results, the Bears are all but assured a spot in the NCAA Championships, as they currently rank No. 10 in the nation and from a scoring perspective sit comfortably above the 12-team cutoff line; however, they have a chance to turn some heads and continue bettering their scores before heading to the big stage.
 
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