COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – No. 1 Stanford exploded for a 74.400 on vault in the fifth rotation on Saturday, helping lead the Cardinal to a 420.100 team score and a first-place finish from the 2023 Rocky Mountain Open.
The Cardinal topped Oklahoma (411.850), No. 4 Nebraska (405.300), No. 5 Michigan (398.900), host Air Force (397.400) and Arizona State (381.450) in the marquee early-season competition.
Freshman Asher Hong, who won a pair of events on Saturday, led off the vault run with a career-best 15.000. Sophomore Khoi Young followed with a career-best 15.050 before Taylor Burkhart went 14.850 to match a career best. Senior Riley Loos managed a 14.400 before senior Zach Martin surpassed them all with a 15.100 to win the event title – eclipsing his previous best of 15.050. The Cardinal took the first four spots overall in the standings.
Hong's event titles came on parallel bars and still rings, as the native of Tomball, Texas put up a 14.800 on rings before going 15.250 in his final routine of the night on parallel bars. Hong managed career-best marks in four of his five events on Saturday, posting a 14.000 on pommel horse and the 15.000 on vault.
While he did not compete on horizontal bar on Saturday, Hong's five-event total was 72.950. Michigan's Fred Richard won the all-around crown with an 83.200. Stanford's lone all-arounder on Saturday, Burkhart finished second with a score of 82.050.
All told, Stanford surpassed its season-best scores in five of the six events on Saturday night – falling shy of the 71.750 on rings from a week ago. Beginning on horizontal bar, Stanford went 67.650. Burkhart took third overall in the event with a career-best 14.500, followed by Brandon Briones in fourth at 14.350. Young also managed a career-high in the event, scoring a 13.650.
The Cardinal moved to floor in the second rotation, delivering a 69.000 – led by a season-high 14.250 from Loos to earn a share of second place. Hong's 13.900 was good for seventh overall. Freshman Nicolas Kuebler also finished top 10 with a 13.800.
After struggling a bit on pommel horse a week ago, Stanford rebounded nicely with a 67.550. Ian Gunther and Hong each went 14.000 to share second place, with Gunther's score falling just shy of his career-high of 14.050. Senior J.R. Chou also narrowly missed a career high, going 13.800 to take fourth overall.
Turning it on in the latter half of the meet, Stanford earned the top four spots on still rings en route to scoring a 70.450. Hong's 14.800 led the way, followed by Briones (14.200), Burkhart (14.000) and Kuebler (career-best 13.950) in second through fourth, respectively.
Following the stellar run on vault, Stanford finished the competition with a 71.050 on parallel bars. Hong was the only gymnast to go 15-plus in the event, as he was followed by Chou's career-high 14.750 to take second. Jeremy Bischoff followed with a 14.400 to take fifth, while Brandon Nguyen placed 11th overall with a personal-best score of 13.600.
Having opened the season with two road meets, the Cardinal will return to The Farm on Saturday for the Stanford Open to begin the home slate. Competition is set to begin at 7 p.m.
