STANFORD – In a thrilling Saturday afternoon matchup at Burnham Pavilion, the California and Stanford men's gymnastics teams took their third meeting of the season down to the wire and finished with their closest point differential of the season. The Golden Bears were leading the Cardinal 329.200-329.050 heading into the last rotation, but Stanford ultimately prevailed after a strong horizontal bar showing to finish one point ahead of Cal, 392.850-391.850.
 
After picking up a pair of second-place finishes on floor (Tyler Shimizu – 13.550) and pommel horse (Noah Newfeld – 13.700), respectively, the Bears were strongest in the second half of the meet, posting wins on vault (69.250-63.550) and parallel bars (67.150-66.500) to pull ahead after five events. The latter score also earned the No. 10 spot on Cal's modern program list.
 
Junior Jasper Smith-Gordon, who already owns the modern program record on vault, made his season debut in the event with a winning score of 14.700 to tie the third-best mark on Cal's top-10 list. His teammate, sophomore Khalen Curry, followed that up with a second-place 14.650 to add his own entry (tied-No. 5) to the record book.
 
Senior Darren Wong posted another impressive night, finishing third on parallel bars with a season-best 13.750 to lead the squad and taking second place on horizontal bar with another season-best of 14.000 – just .050 off his personal record.
 
Three freshmen who competed set collegiate personal bests in their respective events. Jaxon Mitchell finished the night with a 12.450 on rings, followed by the parallel bars due of Tucker Yasunaga (13.350) and Brendan Strom (13.550).
 
Team Score: 391.850
 
Floor: 64.700
Tyler Shimizu – 13.550 (Tied – 2nd place)
Jelani Sweet – 12.900
Theodor Roald Gadderud – 11.850
Carter Kim – 13.300
Khalen Curry – 13.100
 
Pommel Horse: 64.050
Darren Wong – 11.100
Tyler Shimizu – 13.300
Noah Newfeld – 13.700 (2nd Place)
Noah Sano – 12.900
Aiden Li – 13.050
 
Rings: 64.050
Jaxon Mitchell – 12.450 (PR)
Theodor Roald Gadderud – 13.100
Noah Newfeld – 13.050
Noah Sano – 12.550
Chris Scales – 12.900
 
Vault: 69.250 (Winner)
Jelani Sweet – 13.800
Tyler Shimizu – 12.200
Theodor Roald Gadderud – 13.900
Jasper Smith-Gordon – 14.700 (Winner – Tied-Cal Top 3)
Khalen Curry – 14.650 (2nd Place – Tied-Cal Top 5)
 
Parallel Bars: 67.150 (Winner – Cal Top 10)
Brendan Strom – 13.550 (PR)
Chris Scales – 12.900
Tucker Yasunaga – 13.350 (PR)
Darren Wong – 13.750 (3rd Place)
Noah Sano – 13.600
 
Horizontal Bar: 62.650
Theodor Roald Gadderud – 14.150 (Winner – PR)
Tyler Shimizu – 11.900
Carter Kim – 9.900
Collin Cunane – 12.700
Darren Wong – 14.000 (2nd Place)
 
UP NEXT
Cal heads east to Norman, Okla., to face No. 2 Oklahoma at noon on Saturday, Feb. 10.