STANFORD, Calif. – No. 4 Stanford welcomed the U.S. National Team and Bay Area Bandits to Burnham Pavilion on Saturday evening, scoring a 410.300 to split the meet against the two opponents.
Team USA, headlined by current and former Stanford gymnasts Jeremy Bischoff, Asher Hong, Riley Loss, Colt Walker, and Khoi Young, lead the way with a 415.650 on the night. Bay Area Bandits turned in a 334.750 performance, led by Cardinal alumni Ian Gunther and Blake Sun.
Taylor Burkhart turned in the best all-around performance of his career to lead the team with an 83.950, finishing third behind USA's Hong (86.850) and Young (85.700). Burkhart also notched a career-high on floor with a 14.400 routine.
Brandon Nguyen also saw his best all-around effort of his career to finish fifth on the night. The reigning MPSF Gymnast of the Week registered an 82.100 highlighted by a 14.500 on vault.
J.R. Chou turned in a career-high pommel horse routine for the third consecutive week to finish second on the event, this time scoring a 14.400 on the night with captain Luke McFarland placed third with a 14.250.
McFarland and David Shamah placed second and third on parallel bars with a 14.600 and 14.550, respectively, each earning career bests to lead the Cardinal to their best rotation score of the season in the event.
Burkhart and Mark Berlaga rounded out the event medalists on the night for Stanford, with Burkhart finishing third on high bar with a 13.750 and Berlaga bringing home the bronze on still rings with a 14.400.
Hong led the field with four outright event crowns on the night, earning the top scores in floor, still rings, parallel bars, and high bar. He also earned the co-title on vault with Khoi Young, who added a pommel horse title to round out a dominant showing from the 2023 World Team members.
Stanford will send representatives to both the Winter Cup on Feb. 22-24 and the 2024 Cottbus World Cup on Feb. 22-25, before returning to collegiate action on March 3 for a quad meet against California, Nebraska and Air Force.
