The California men's gymnastics team begins its postseason campaign this weekend with the MPSF Championships, with the Golden Bears set to meet Oklahoma, Stanford and host Air Force on Saturday at 3 p.m. PT. This will be the second time this season that Cal has shared the gym with the Sooners and Falcons and its sixth time seeing the Cardinal.
 
AT MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS (April 5, 3 p.m. PT – Cadet West Gym, USAF Academy, Colo.)
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ACROSS THE GYM – OKLAHOMA
Led by 26-year veteran and USA Gymnastics Hall of Famer Mark Williams, the 2025 Sooners have a nation-leading four-score average of 327.183 - over a point ahead of No. 2 Stanford - and a high of 330.700. Oklahoma's squad contains six CGA Regular Season All-Americans in Emre Dodanli (all-around), Ignacio Yockers (pommel horse), Matthew Burgoyne (rings), Tas Hajdu (rings), Francisco Velez Belendez (rings) and Kelton Christiansen (high bar). Dodanli, who competed at the 2024 Olympic Games for Turkey, is also a finalist for the prestigious Nissen-Emery Award, presented each year to the nation's top collegiate gymnast. Oklahoma's other elite-level standouts include French National Team member Arthur Ballon and former U.S. National Team member Fuzzy Benas.
 
Cal last met Oklahoma at Haas Pavilion on Feb. 28, with the Sooners outscoring the Bears 323.100-308.500.
 
ACROSS THE GYM – STANFORD
Stanford is coming off its fifth-straight national title and is led once more by eight-time CGA Coach of the Year Thom Glielmi in his 23rd season at the helm. The Cardinal is ranked second in the nation with a four-score average of 326.100 (high: 328.850) and has as a roster that includes four senior U.S. National Team members (Asher Hong, Khoi Young, Taylor Burkhart and Colt Walker), former U.S. National Team member Jeremy Bischoff and a pair of U.S. Senior Development Team members (Kiran Mandava and Kai Uemura). Burkhart and Young are also finalists for the Nissen-Emery Award. Hong, a 2024 Olympic Bronze Medalist, is one of five Stanford CGA Regular Season All-Americans (rings), a group that also includes Burkhart (all-around, floor, vault), Walker (parallel bars), Mark Berlaga (rings) and Brandon Nguyen (parallel bars).
 
Cal and Stanford's last meeting was on March 15 at The Farm, with the Cardinal triumphing 324.350-313.200.
 
ACROSS THE GYM – AIR FORCE
The Falcons, led by sixth-year head coach Josh Loeser, will look to U.S. Senior National Team Member, CGA Regular Season All-American (pommel horse) and Nissen-Emery Award Finalist Patrick Hoopes to lead the way at home along with fellow Regular Season All-Americans Jack Matlock (pommel horse) and Erich Upton (all-around). Hoopes has posted two scores of 15.150 on pommel horse this season, one of only three collegiate gymnasts to cross the 15-point barrier on the event and the only one to do so twice. Air Force has a four-score average of 312.700 with a season best of 314.500.
 
Cal and Air Force last met on Feb. 8 at the Air Force Academy, as the host team outscored its guests 313.500-312.350.
 
REGULAR SEASON ALL-AMERICAN
For the first time in his career, Aidan Li earned Regular Season All-America recognition from the College Gymnastics Association (CGA) for his outstanding year on pommel horse. Li is the nation's sixth-ranked man in the event with a four-score average of 14.300 and a season-high score of 14.650. He is the third Cal gymnast to earn the honor, joining Jasper Smith-Gordon (2023-24, vault) and Noah Newfeld (2023, all-around).
 
OKADA STEPS DOWN, DEL CASTILLO TAKES OVER AS INTERIM HEAD COACH
Eighth-year head coach JT Okada, who was hired in May 2017 after spending the previous five seasons as an assistant coach on Cal's staff, coached his last meet for the Golden Bears on Feb. 28 before transferring to a role in Cal's compliance office. During his tenure, Okada was instrumental in the development of several national team members and nine All-Americans with 18 total honors, as well as three regular-season All-Americans and three Nissen-Emery Award finalists. He also coached in the 2016 Olympic Games, heading the South African National Team. In the classroom, Okada's athletes collected 62 CGA Academic All-American honors and 58 MPSF All-Academic nods. Third-year associate head coach Bryan Del Castillo, who joined the Bears as an assistant coach in 2020, will lead the team through the rest of the season as interim head coach.
 
OH, CANADA!
Fifth-year graduate student Aidan Li and freshman Matteo Bardana appeared at the 2025 Elite Canada meet in February, competing against some of the country's best gymnasts for national recognition. Li won his second major Canadian gold on pommel horse with the largest margin of victory in any individual senior event at the meet; meanwhile, Bardana was the top Senior Next Gen gymnast in the all-around as well as the floor, rings and high bar competitions, also taking silver in his age group on parallel bars.
 
ONE MORE YEAR
Graduate student Aidan Li, who majored in mechanical engineering, returned to the Bears for his fifth and final season in 2025. His Elite Canada pommel horse title is just one of his many athletic accolades this year: Li is the NCAA's fifth-ranked gymnast in the event and claimed at least a share of first place on horse in four separate meets this year, also earning CGA and MPSF Specialist of the Week after leading the nation in Week 4. As a senior in 2024, he posted four of Cal's top-10 pommel horse scores in the previous scoring era. Following an all-conference nod for his second-place finish on horse at the MPSF Championships, he broke the program record in the NCAA Championships Qualifier and tied for sixth place in the final, earning Cal's first All-America honor since 2021 and the first on pommel horse since 2014. Two months later, he made an appearance at the Canadian Championships, winning the pommel horse title in his first national senior meet. He is just one of 35 athletes to be honored by the ACC with the 2025 Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship Award.
 
TOP PERFORMERS RETURN
In addition to Li, several other Bears with top-level experience are competing for Cal this season, including five more returning NCAA finalists. Theodor Roald Gadderud, who competed for the Norwegian National Team on the world stage prior to enrolling at Berkeley, was named Team MVP after an outstanding season that included an MPSF Gymnast of the Week nod and an appearance in the NCAA All-Around final. Joining him in the latter category is Tyler Shimizu, a two-time All-MPSF honoree who competed in the all-around at the 2023 U.S. Championships. Fellow two-time All-MPSF honoree Khalen Curry reached the NCAA finals in two different events in 2024, while Jasper Smith-Gordon – the 2019 World Junior bronze medalist on vault and a two-time CGA Regular-Season All-American – reached his first NCAA final after a season in which he posted five scores in Cal's top-10 list. Rounding out that group is sophomore Jaxon Mitchell, who was one of just three freshmen to earn 2024 All-MPSF honors; he was also Cal's only rookie to earn a spot in the NCAA final that year, where he competed on rings.
 
NEW RULES
The NCAA has introduced several rule changes to the sport, effective in the 2025 season. Each team is only allowed to enter four athletes per lineup, down from the previous five, while only 12 total gymnasts (down from 15) are eligible to compete each week. Additionally, each routine now only needs to feature eight skills instead of 10.
 
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