On Friday, April 19, the Simpson men’s gymnastics team took eight athletes to Illinois University to compete in the NCAA Championships against some of the best gymnastics schools in the country.
Two Simpson athletes, Brian Rollison and Paul Tiedemann, would go on to advance to the NCAA Finals at the championships and compete again on Saturday, April 20.
In the finals, Rollison came in 14th on still rings with a score of 13.333 on day one and 13.466 on day two. Last year, Rollison became the first Simpson Men’s Gymnastics athlete to make the NCAA Finals, and now this year, he continues to make history with the highest placement ever from a Simpson men’s athlete.
Junior Paul Tiedemann made it to the Finals on the high bar. This was his first NCAA Finals appearance. In the finals for Tiedemann, he scored a 13.5 on day one and 13.166 on day two, coming in 19th place in the country. Tiedemann’s 113.5 is a career best.
Six other Simpson athletes finished their seasons out at the NCAA Championships meet, not advancing to the Finals on Saturday.
Freshman Garrett Alexander had a good freshman year showing, as he led the team in both floor and pommel horse at the National meet with scores of 12.666 on the floor and 12.333 on the pommel.
Sophomore Braxton Jones competed in his second national meet and led the team with a 13.500 on vault, while also scoring 12.566 on the floor.
“It felt surreal for sure, being on a stage of that scale and having that large of an audience was really a surreal experience. The energy is incredible and really makes you appreciate all the hard work you’ve put in to get there,” Jones said.
In the pommel horse, it was Junior William Bacus finishing his season off with an 11.900, and freshman Noah Doiron with a 10.333, finishing off their seasons.
The still rings had two athletes from Simpson, both sophomore Alex Campbell and freshman Oskar Silverman. Campbell scored a 12.533, and Silverman scored an 11.266 at the Championships. Lastly, Noah Doiron competed in the all-around and scored a 70.098.
“Qualifying to NCAAs as a freshman is something that I didn’t realize that I could do, as I thought maybe I could make it in my sophomore or junior year, so to qualify in my very first season makes me feel so incredibly grateful, and hopeful to qualify again in the future,” Doiron said.
The Storm’s men’s gymnastics team has now finished its fourth year as a team by again improving from the previous year. This includes sending a record number of eight athletes to the NCAA Championships, getting more than one person to the NCAA finals for the first time, and Brian Rollison scoring 14th, the highest placing in school history.
Editor’s note: The story previously stated Rollinson scoring 13.5 on the high bar, Tiedemann scoring 13.466 on the still rings, Doiron scoring 60.098 in the all-around competition and William Bacus’ last name spelled incorrectly. Bacus’ last name has been corrected, and the scores and events of Rollinson, Tiedemann and Doiron now reflect the accurate scores and events.
