California men's gymnastics returns to Stanford's Burnham Pavilion this Saturday for the Golden Bears' penultimate meet of the regular season, sharing the gym with the host Cardinal on their senior day as well as Air Force, Team France and several members of Team Quebec. The first rotation will begin at 4 p.m. PT, with live streaming and live scores from the competition to be broadcast on Virtius.
 
Cal, which is slated to start on pommel horse, will field multiple new faces in its lineups this weekend as many of the Bears' top gymnasts rest in preparation for the team's own senior night the following Saturday before hosting the MPSF Championships on April 4.
 
At Oklahoma last weekend, the Bears earned their highest score of the year with a total of 315.700, including season bests on floor and rings as well as a modern program record on pommel horse (53.950). Sam Cirlincione posted the best rings score by a Bear this season with a 13.550, while Khalen Curry recorded a Cal season high of 13.750 on floor. Kaien Orion tied for a Cal season best on horse (13.750) and also posted a personal-best 13.600 on parallel bars to take second place. Jasper Smith-Gordon, the nation's No. 3 vaulter, took third on the event with his second-best score of the year (14.350).
 
ACROSS THE GYM - STANFORD: 24th-year head coach Thom Glielmi leads the reigning NCAA runner-up squad, which has won five of the last six NCAA championship titles and is currently ranked No. 2 in the country with a four-score average of 321.583 and a season-high score of 326.450. Although the biggest spotlights on the Cardinal belong to U.S. National Team members Asher Hong and David Shamah, the rest of the team is just as dangerous: redshirt senior Nick Kuebler ranks top-three nationally on rings (first), floor (second) and high bar (third), while senior Arun Chhetri and sophomore Wade Nelson both rank No. 4 on parallel bars and vault, respectively. Stanford also boasts a strong five-man freshman class led by U.S. Senior Development Team member Jun Iwai, a two-time MPSF Freshman of the Week and a Pan American gold medalist.
 
Cal last met Stanford at the Stanford International Collegiate on Feb. 28, with the Cardinal outscoring the Bears 232.900-312.850. Stanford leads the all-time series 155-128-2.
 
ACROSS THE GYM – AIR FORCE: Head coach Josh Loeser is in his seventh season as head coach of the Falcons, who are currently ranked No. 13 in the nation with a four-score average of 304.067 and a season-high 310.100. Senior Tai Gopaul boasts national top-25 rankings on high bar (No. 12) and parallel bars (No. 22), while classmates Sam Brown and Jack Matlock rank No. 9 and No. 12, respectively, on pommel horse. A massive eight-man rookie class makes up over one-third of Air Force's roster, with Texas native Isaac Koo leading the way at four appearances for the Falcons this season.
 
Cal last met Air Force at the NCAA Championships on April 18, 2025, with the Bears outscoring the Falcons 319.091-313.526. Cal leads the all-time series 52-5.
 
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 what was then 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. Underhill was also named the MPSF Freshman of the Week after his performance at the Stanford Open on Jan. 24, where he competed in the all-around and helped Cal to a second straight vault title and another nation-best score. He became just the second Cal men's gymnast in history to earn multiple MPSF Freshman of the Week awards (joining Theodor Roald Gadderud in 2023) after helping the Bears to a season-high score at Oklahoma on March 7.
 
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Sophomore Matteo Bardana was named the CGA Gymnast of the Week after competing in his first collegiate all-around at the Stanford International Collegiate on Feb. 28. Bardana's score of 78.050 was the best of all gymnasts competing in a collegiate uniform that weekend and included a personal-best score of 13.900 that tied for second-best by any Bear in the modern scoring era. He is the first Cal gymnast to win the award since alumnus Yu-Chen Lee in 2022 as well as the youngest Bear to receive the honor since current assistant coach Donothan Bailey did so in 2011.
 
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 and is Cal's parallel bars record-holder in the modern scoring system, 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. He has represented Norway twice this year, first at the Cottbus World Cup in Germany and later at the Baku World Cup in Azerbaijan. Bardana, who broke Cal's modern era 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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