ANN ARBOR, Mich. - No. 3 Stanford will once again contend for a national championship tomorrow night, finishing second in Friday night’s second qualifying session at the 2025 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships.
The Cardinal posted a team score of 329.028, trailing host Michigan (329.824) by just 0.796 points. Illinois claimed the final qualifying spot with a 323.194, followed by Ohio State (319.459), Army (311.091), and Navy (308.056).
Stanford, Illinois, and Michigan will join the three team qualifiers from Session I - Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Penn State - in tomorrow’s finals session.
The Cardinal opened the night on parallel bars, where Colt Walker turned in a team-leading 14.000 routine to finish second in the session. Jeremy Bischoff added a 13.833, placing third to help the Cardinal open the night with a strong 54.499 score in the first rotation.
Leading off on the parallel bars, Colt Walker led the Cardinal with an even 14.000, good enough for second in the session. Jeremy Bischoff also had a strong showing with a 13.833 in the leadoff spot to finish third as Stanford opened up the night with a 54.499 rotation.
Bischoff continued his momentum on high bar, again delivering a strong leadoff routine with a Stanford-best 13.500 to finish tied for fifth. Ian Lasic-Ellis recorded a seventh-place effort of 13.433, and Taylor Burkhart snuck into the top-10 with a 13.333 routine.
Burkhart’s best routine of the night came on floor exercise, tying his career-high of 14.400 to pace the field and lead the Cardinal to their second-best floor team score of the year (55.032). Asher Hong added a 13.666 effort on the floor, keeping Stanford firmly in second at the halfway point.
Khoi Young added a session-best routine of his own on pommel horse, scoring a 14.800 in the anchor position. Marcus Kushner also recorded a season-best in the third spot, scoring a 13.766 to help the Cardinal surpass the 54-point mark on a pommel horse rotation for just the third time this season.
The Cardinal continued its run of event winners on still rings, where Hong scored a 14.233 for the best rings showing of the evening. Mark Berlaga (13.933) and Arun Chhetri (13.733) each capped off their routines with stuck dismounts to finish second and sixth finishes in the event, respectively.
Stanford capped off the night on vault, where Burkhart (14.300), Walker (14.000) and Young (14.100) each delivered strong performances to seal a runner-up team finish for the Cardinal. For Young, it was his first vault routine of the season after previously being limited to pommel horse.
The quest for an NCAA-record sixth consecutive national title continues for the Cardinal tomorrow night, as Session III of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships gets underway at 3:30 p.m. PT live on ESPN2.