California men's gymnastics will compete in its first away meet of the season this Saturday, heading to Stanford's Burnham Pavilion for the Stanford Open to meet Stanford and Ohio State in hopes of improving upon its solid season opener and qualifying individuals for the upcoming Winter Cup. The meet is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. PT, with a live stream and live scoring available on Virtius.
 
This week will feature the return of star senior Theodor Roald Gadderud, who competed with the Norwegian national team this past summer at the World Championships. Roald Gadderud, a four-time All-MPSF gymnast who won three silver medals at the 2025 Norwegian Championships, competed on rings, vault and parallel bars in all of the Bears' meets last season, also frequently appearing on high bar and floor.
 
In Cal's season opener at home (Jan. 9), the Bears hosted Stanford and posted a score of 309.700, which was a six-point improvement from their last season opener, and claimed nation-best scores (and event titles) of 55.200 on vault and 53.150 on high bar, the latter of which was also a program record. Freshman Nathan Underhill was named the College Gymnastics Association (CGA) Co-Rookie of the Week for his performance, which included a 14.000 on vault and a 12.700 on rings, while sophomore Matteo Bardana broke Cal's high bar school record with a 13.550.
 
ACROSS THE GYM - STANFORD: Led by 24th-year head coach Thom Glielmi, Stanford has won five of the last six NCAA Championship titles and is coming off a 2025 runner-up finish, finishing just .163 behind Michigan. The standout on the Cardinal's roster is junior Asher Hong, a 2024 Olympic bronze medalist (USA) and a six-time NCAA Champion, with two of those titles coming in 2025 on floor and rings. Two of his teammates (Kiran Mandava and Kai Uemura) earned spots on the U.S. Developmental team last season, while Stanford's five-man freshman class is led by current U.S. National Team member Jun Iwai, who led his squad to a gold medal at the 2025 Pan American Championships while earning an individual title on floor. As a team, Stanford posted a national qualifying average (NQA) of 326.813 during the 2025 regular season, peaking at 332.061 at the NCAA Championships final. With two meets under their belt this year, the Cardinal has a season average to date of 320.425, second-best in the nation. Reigning MPSF Gymnast of the Week David Shamah has won all-around titles in both of those meets, while Nick Kuebler has three event wins so far this season as well as two MPSF weekly awards.
 
Cal last met Stanford in Berkeley on Jan. 9, with the Cardinal outscoring the Bears 320.100-309.700. Stanford leads the all-time series, 153-128-2.
 
ACROSS THE GYM – OHIO STATE:  With 15th-year head coach Rustam Sharipov at the helm, Ohio State is looking to rebound after just missing the NCAA Championships final in 2025, finishing seventh in the final standings. Like Cal, the Buckeyes have competed just once this season, posting a score of 311.300 at the OSU Open on Jan. 18. Junior Drake Andrews, who was named a CGA Regular-Season All-American last year on parallel bars, won the all-around title with a score of 79.400. Ohio State also returns pommel horse star Parker Thackston (both an All-American and Regular-Season All-American in each of the past two years), three 2025 Regular-Season All-Americans in Jesse Pakele, Kristian Grahovski and David Ramirez, two-time All-American (2023-24) and 2024 Regular-Season All-American Caden Spencer, 2024 All-American Chase Davenport-Mills, 2024 Regular-Season All-American Justin Ciccone. The Buckeyes have two true freshmen in Peyton Contini and Lukas Ross, both of whom competed in Ohio State's season opener.
 
Cal last met Ohio State at the Stanford Open on Jan. 25, 2025, with the Buckeyes outscoring the Bears 323.000-310.200. Cal leads the all-time series, 12-11.
 
ROOKIE STANDOUT
Following his collegiate debut on Jan. 9, freshman Nathan Underhill was named a Co-Rookie of the Week by the CGA along with Michigan's Eli Osuna. Underhill posted one of Cal's three 14-plus scores on vault to help the squad to an event title and a nation-best score, also recording the team's second-best routine on rings. He joins current teammate Jasper Smith-Gordon (2023) as well as alumni Noah Newfeld (2021) and Darren Wong (2019) as the only Bears to claim national rookie of the week recognition.
 
NEW YEAR, NEW ROLES
Cal's coaching staff is composed of three program alumni this season, each of whom has competed or coached at the highest level. New head coach Bryan Del Castillo, who spent the previous six years with the Bears as an assistant and was the interim head coach for the second half of the 2025 season, earned five All-America honors as a gymnast at Cal and is a former member of the U.S. National Team. Third-year assistant coach Karl Ziehn is a former U.S. National Team coach as well as a seven-year assistant at Stanford, helping the Cardinal to a national title in 2019. New to Cal's staff is Donothan Bailey, a former teammate of Del Castillo's who was a three-time All-American and is the last Golden Bear to win an MPSF title on pommel horse (2012, 2014), won a bronze medal with the U.S. National Team in 2011 and also coached the USA Gymnastics Resident Team in 2011-22. During their time at Cal, Del Castillo and Bailey were named finalists for the Nissen Emery Award, the top honor presented annually to a senior collegiate men's gymnast.
 
ON THE WORLD STAGE
Senior Theodor Roald Gadderud of Norway and sophomore Matteo Bardana of Canada each represented their respective nations on the international stage in the summer of 2025. Roald Gadderud, a four-time All-MPSF honoree who earned two MPSF medals in 2025, competed at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships after runner-up finishes on floor, high bar and the all-around at the Norwegian National Championships. One of the youngest gymnasts ever to be recruited by the Norwegian National Team at age 11, Roald Gadderud ranked 10th in the NCAA on parallel bars in 2025 and competed in his third straight NCAA Championships final. Bardana, who broke Cal's high bar record in the Bears' 2026 season opener, helped Canada to its first medal in history (silver) at the FISU World University Games as a member of the Canadian Senior Next Gen National Team, earning the spot after winning the Canadian Senior Next Gen parallel bars title and bronze medals on floor and rings. In his first season with the Bears, Bardana earned All-MPSF and MPSF Freshman of the Week honors, later qualifying for the NCAA Championships final on floor and rings.
 
THEY'RE BACK
In addition to Roald Gadderud and Bardana, Cal returns several of its top gymnasts for the 2026 season. Jasper Smith-Gordon, a redshirt senior who owns the vault school records in the current and previous scoring systems, is a two-time College Gymnastics Association (CGA) Regular-Season All-American (2023-24) in the event and the reigning MPSF vault champion, becoming the first Bear to win a conference vault title in 38 years. Fellow senior Khalen Curry is a two-time All-MPSF honoree and a three-time NCAA Finals qualifier, while juniors Carter Kim and Jaxon Mitchell also have received All-MPSF recognition. Sophomore Trigg Dudley, who competed in the British Championships last spring, won the floor title in December at the College Gymnastics Association (CGA) All-Star exhibition contest.
 
NEW BEARS IN THE RANKS
Cal is fielding six rookies and one graduate transfer in this season's squad. All-around stars Nathan Underhill (Oconomowoc, Wis.), Davide Comparin (Irving, Texas) and Liam DeWeese (Murphy, Texas) each have a Men's Development Program national title to their name, while Finley Chin (Irvine), JD Ehinger (Coppell, Texas) and Will Horenziak (Montgomery, Ohio) have a combined 15 state championships over the past four seasons. Comparin, DeWeese and Ehinger are also former club teammates, having competed for Texas Dreams Gymnastics as junior gymnasts Finally, newcomer Kaien Orion spent the 2023-25 seasons at Stanford, helping the Cardinal to national titles in 2023-24 and appearing in the NCAA Finals in each of the past two years.
 
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