GymACT 2025 Season: week 6
Weekend of February 15-16
The most exciting competition weekend EVER? Some say: YES IT WAS!
But before I go into details, this edition will cover these topics:
Week 6 summary and recap "as I claim to understand it"
From the coaches - Updates from individual GymACT programs
Stick Masters - Team stuck landings in competition
Gymnast of the week - nominations and selection
Meet the coaches - Spotlighting GymACT program head coaches
Up next - Upcoming meets
Weekend “summary”: who was where and when? (all meets took place Saturday night)
Temple (Fred Turoff Invitational): Arizona State (🏆306.70*), Temple (293.60), Indy-hio (289.20), NY Alliance (282.10)
MN GymACT Invite (formerly the Ski-U-Mah Invitational): Minnesota (🏆295.80), Iowa (285.80), Northern Illinois (274.60)
*National Season High Score. For more nerdy GymACT information, current rankings, schedules and rosters check out roadtonationals.com
No man is an island. But THIS man is ON an island in the middle of the Pacific. So I am deeply grateful for the chance to maintain my GymACT connection by way of a (mostly uninterrupted) internet connection and a few brown outs now and again. But enough of my tropical woes! This is about the spectacular gymnastics that these teams put out over two mind-blowing week 6 competitions, hosted by Temple and Minnesota at very different venues on Saturday night.
Temple home meet:
In conjunction with the prestigious Fred Turoff Invitational, Saturday night in Philadelphia, the GymACT session featured Temple vs. Arizona State, Indy-hio and New York Alliance.
After hosting the meet on Saturday night at the historical McGonigle Hall, Temple head coach Jesse Kitzen-Abelson had a lot of emotion, but put it succinctly: “That was the best home meet I ever had.”
… but don’t take his word for it. Instead of a long write up about the meet, I’m creating a new section we’re calling:
Let THEM tell you!
“Temple put on an incredible meet! Been to a lot of [other collegiate meets that] pale in comparison to the energy in temple arena tonight! Great job Jesse - and congrats ASU you guys are amazing.”
- Keith Pettit, Indy-Hio head coach
“Was SOOO good being in that gym! The last time we competed there as a team was 1976! So many great "ol timers" too. Absolutely loved it! Great job Jesse and Fred.”
- Scott Barclay, Arizona head coach
“The meet was loud and exciting with great energy. Truly a great experience.”
- Will Pichardo, New York Alliance head coach
Recalling the high energy from the previous year and an appropriate quote applicable to this weekend:
“That’s what GymACT creates wherever it shows up!!!!"
- Mike Burns, Minnesota head coach
It is not just the GymACT members who rave about the meet. Others agree with the tone and emotion:
“Thank you so much for having me! I had a wonderful time and was so proud of the men! They looked AMAZING! I also heard that they basically helped set up that whole space. Such a good group. I was very proud to be there!!”
- Jodi Bailey, Vice president of student affairs
“they better let you have a home meet again next year like why wouldn’t they it was the coolest most hype thing we’ve ever watched, i’m serious we were like this is amazing”
- Temple Field Hockey
“Gotta tell you Coach.... I've played and coached 100's of games and tonight was the most thrilling I've ever been a part of. A true home meet. Simply amazing. So incredibly happy for you and the whole team. Keep up the good work. You're a good man Jesse…”
- Jason Zakrewski
I enjoyed being at the meet and the amount of energy from both the fans and the performers were very high. I’m so glad that I went. And it was very nice seeing and talking to Fred Turoff even if it was only briefly.
- Arthur Hood
“I had a blast! The Dean of CPH was there too. You and the guys are definitely garnering support in our department, for whatever that’s worth.”
- Dr. Clarke (biomechanics professor at Temple, Stanford rower and 08 olympian)
And finally, a Temple gym dad sums it up nicely:
It was a fantastic evening. When walking into the venue you could feel the energy, not only you could feel it, you could see it. Every athlete had a smile on his face. High-fiving. Everyone cheering each other on before the meet even started as they completed they're warm up turns. And when the lights went down, the announcements came out, you couldn't hear a single thing of all the cheering. We love our owls, and they showed one of the best performances that evening. And when each of those routines ended, the towels were waving in the air, the cheers were extremely loud, and you can tell these boys really loved their nest. Congratulations, Jesse and congratulations to the owls. A k a Men's Gymnastics Team for an extraordinary night . You can tell those guys love their nest.
Awesome testimonials, RIGHT!? But, my favorite is from the mom of an excited young gymnast:
“…but refused to leave and wanted to watch the entire meet until the end and get a poster! … he slept with his Owl Towel!”
My thoughts from the island in the pacific on the Temple meet:
I wasn’t there in person, but I certainly felt the palpable energy of the competition in the livestream. What an awesome experience for the competitors and spectators. The excitement and enthusiasm that ripples WAY beyond the walls of that historic Temple sports arena. Congratulations… especially to the Arizona State team for taking on the top spot with the highest team score in the country this season. A thing of beauty.
Check out the temple team in action on their
YouTube live:
Minnesota GymACT Invitational:
In the meet formerly known as Ski-U-Mah Invitational, Minnesota hosted Iowa, Northern Illinois and Wisconsin, Saturday night in Minneapolis.
The Minnesota program is putting their money where their mouth is while putting on a great home meet. That and they’re GIVING it away (well, if you can take it from them) to the top 3 finishing teams a total of $2900 in prize money.
That just gets me all warm and fuzzy (unlike the TEMPERATURES in Minnesota these days. Dang! Did I mention I’m writing this from Oahu and today was 82°F?!?) 🥶
Teams stepped up to challenge and faced the national ranking leaders out on the competition arena. BUT, before things got hot in the gym, there was a LOT of equipment that had to (awkwardly) be moved into The Luminare.
The day before opening the doors to the athletes and public, there were some difficulties getting the truck close enough to the loading zone. They had to get creative and ‘with a little help from our friends,’ Gopher head coach Mike Burns says “thanks to the Iowa boys for helping out last night!!!” #goGymACT 🫶
Josh Bittner (Storm) stated it is a “unique way to use a wedding venue! … The extra mile and things a team will do!” Yes indeed!
Once it was all set up (and tested out by the junior sessions), the competition was on in earnest and Minnesota was NOT gonna just give cash away. You had to EARN it. And, oh, boy! That means ALL the teams turned the setting to “ridiculously great gymnastics” level the entire night.
What a dog fight. But in the end, the grand prize stayed home with the defending national champs (and STILL undefeated #1 in the rankings), Minnesota Men’s Gymnastics. Second and third: Iowa & NIU respectively.
Honorable mention: Also competing and making a splash of their own was the “soon to be GymACT’s newest program” the Wisconsin Flippers. One of their guys, Josef Volk, tied for first on vault with a 13.2. As a “provisional” GymACT program, Winsconsin scores do not yet appear in the Road to Nationals rankings, but are shown in the official meet scoresheets. Way to go, Flippers
Check out the Minnesota team on their archived Instagram live:
Also available, Iowa team on their archived Instagram live:
From Oahu, as I claim to understand it.
Breeze 🥸
From the coaches
Updates from individual GymACT programs
ARIZONA - Scott Barclay
What an incredible weekend of gymnastics Arizona state just had! The Gold team headed out to compete at Temple against New York Alliance and Indy-Hio. This was the first time Arizona State has competed as a team at McGonigal Hall since 1976.... 50 years ago! When Scott Barclay was on the team! (This gym was the site of many NCAA national Championships.) The large Temple crowd was loud & engaged. Jesse & Fred ran a super smooth meet which went a clean 1.5 hours. Then they followed it up with their parents feeding all the gymnasts and families. Our team hit 86% of their sets for a season high GymACT score of 306.7 to push us to the #1 ranking for the week. Hunter Flechsig from Texas, led the team hitting 6 for 6 and winning the All around, Floor and Pbars. The team spent the day Sunday visiting the Liberty bell, independence hall and some great historical sites before Having a great lunch with Philly cheese steaks and then heading home on a late night flight.
On Sunday morning, the the Maroon team had a great competition competing in the NAIGC Western regionals and ended up outsticking the Gold team 9 to 6! Overall, it was a great Arizona State gymnastics weekend.
MINNESOTA - Mike Burns
Minnesota played host to Iowa, NIU, and Wisconsin this past weekend at the 9th Annual MN GymACT Invitational held in NE Minneapolis. Minnesota and NIU both put up a second team.
Final results looked good for Minnesota:
1. Minnesota 295.8
2. Iowa. 285,8
3. NIU #1. 274.60
4. Gophers 141.30
5. NIU #2 131.3
6. Wisconsin 90.90
The top three teams took home PRIZE MONEY in the following denominations:
1. Minnesota - $1500
2. Iowa - $900
3. NIU. - $500
‘We love the idea of providing the opportunity to win some money by attending our meet,’ said head Coach Mike Burns. ‘Every little bit can make a difference on an away meet and if we can help a team cover some of its costs, I’m all in!’
Iowa’s Raif Shaffner took home the All Around title with a score of 75.10; Minnesota’s Ben Letvin finished 2nd with a score of 73.50; and Minnesota’s Joseph Pennell finished 3rd with a score of 79.70.
The meet was a high energy affair but one of the coolest things that took place was when the Iowa guys showed up while we were still setting up the gym on Friday night and jumped right in to give us a hand! How cool is that!! A big shout out to the entire Iowa team for their assistance!
‘You gotta love that type of connection that occurs among teams in our great sport,’ commented Mike Burns. ‘Lots of great kids in this sport who know what doing the right thing is all about!’
The crowd was electric as they were cheering on their favorite teams and individuals throughout the night and when the dust settles, Minnesota was able to bring home the big bucks by placing 1st but it was a hard fought battle but in the end, we prevailed and kept the the big money prize at home!!!
Stick masters
Numbers of stuck landings as a team in competitions this past weekend
🏆NIU: 8 sticks
NYA: 7 sticks
Minnesota: 7 sticks. Gophers: 2
ASU: (Gold Team) 6 sticks. Maroon: 9 (competed in the NAIGC Western regionals on Sunday)
Indy-hio: 6 sticks
Temple: 6 sticks. Owls: 2
Iowa: 5 sticks
Gymnast of the Week
Nominations for week 6
TEMPLE: Evan Zakrewski
Tri-captain Evan Zakrewski delivered a stellar performance in front of a rowdy and high-spirited home crowd at McGonigle Hall on Saturday night, as the Owls faced off against Arizona, Indy-hio, and NY Alliance.
Zakrewski set the tone early, nailing his upgraded pommel horse routine to secure the silver. He went on to hit season highs on all four events, proving his consistency and leadership. His third-place parallel bars routine was capped off with a stuck dismount, setting the stage for an electrifying final rotation.
As the crowd's energy was nearing its peak, Zakrewski stepped up on high bar as the Owls’ anchor. He wowed the audience with a newly debuted tucked Kovacs, then sealed the night with a stuck double layout full-out dismount, fulfilling the crowd’s desire. His clutch performance helped propel Temple to a season-high team score, shattering their previous best by an impressive eight points.
What a night for Zakrewski and the Owls!
IOWA: Raif Schaffner
Iowa had a decent meet Feb. 15th in Minneapolis. The team hit 5 for 5 on PH! We beat Minnesota on FE & V, but the highlight was Raif Schaffner’s performance in the AA. Raif had knee surgery last year and for most of the season competed only PH & R without a dismount. At the East Regional he added PB and at Nationals he did his first AA of the year. Following our team Intra-Squad meet Dec. 13, 2024 he hurt his foot on Floor and was told he and a broken bone. In our 2nd meet I let him do a PH routine(Jan. 25), The following week his doctors decided his injury was a stress fracture and he could begin working out again and progress according to how he felt. On February 1st we did the PH specialist thing one more time(he won the event at the Roethlisberger Invite). So, on Feb. 15th during warmup he decided he was ready for the AA: He won the AA(75.10) and he won PB(13.0), he was 2nd on FE(13.2) & R(13.1) plus 3rd on V(13.1). We still took second to Minnesota, but the awards session was fun.
ARIZONA: Hunter Flechsig
I would like to submit Junior HUNTER FLECHSIG for this week's GOTW. Hunter competed in the All Around in our meet at Temple and was a huge reason for our big victory. Three days prior our top All Arounder, Aidan Myers, suffered a torn ACL and we all knew that everyone needed to step up.. and they did… especially Hunter who hit 6 for 6 & placed 1st in the AA with a season high 76.0- the 2nd highest GymACT AA score posted this season. He also took 1st on both FX & PB. His effort helped ASG score the GymACT HIGH team score of the year.
Hunter makes a great candidate for GOTW this week for HUGELY stepping up and greatly outdoing himself when the team really needed him to.
[Head shot is on the drive]
MINNESOTA: David Grossman
David continues to be a force to be reckoned with for the Minnesota GymACT Program. In our recent meet against Iowa and Northern Illinois, David took 1st place honors on3 out of the 4 events he competed. - Still Rings, Parallel Bars, and High bar; while taking 2nd place on PH with a new career high of 12.6. He continues to be a fierce competitor in what is looking to be a very intense year in the GymACT League.
NIU: Karl Vachlin
Freshmen Karl Vachlin had his first meet this year in the AA and had a spectacular performance. He got 4th in the AA with a 68.1. Notable performances include a 12.1 on high bar (4th) and 12.1 on Pbars (6th). Karl looks to improve and be ready for NIU invite in 3 weeks. Go Huskies!!
Meet the coaches:
Well, the GymACT League has more teams then there are weeks in the season so this week we are featuring TWO coaches in this section. I am a HUGE fan of these guys so I’m excited to share a bit of THEIR story with the world. Meet Zach Cipra of NIU and Keith Pettit, from GymACT’s NEWEST program, Indy-Hio
KEITH PETTIT: Head Coach of the Indy-Hio Hyenas
As a gymnast, Keith Pettit was a two-time All Big Ten Gymnast and Nissan Award Finalist at Michigan State University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in 1989 and worked as a Civil Engineer until 2019. Meanwhile, he also coached at Queen City Gymnastics in Cincinnati where he has been for the past 35 years.
In that time Keith helped a number of gymnasts shine on the national stage to the tune of TWENTY USA Gymnastics Jr National Team members. In 2002 he coached then 17 year old rockstar gymnast, DJ Bucher to the USA Senior National Team. The current count is 6 Jr. All Around Champions under his tutelage and in 2002 Keith was named the Developmental Coach of the Year for USA Gymnastics.
Keith had the honor of representing the USA as head coach for the Jr Pan American Games, the Yokohama Cup and the Canberra Cup. He also adds to his repertoire coaching the four time Ecuadorian National All Around Champion and a two-time Spanish Olympian (in his spare time).
Now a HUGE contributor to the GymACT League, coach Pettit helped form the Indy-Hio Hyenas in 2023. He is the head coach of the current team and the tenacious Hyenas have risen STRONG to 4th place in the national rankings. Who’s laughing now?
ZACH CIPRA- Head coach at Northern Illinois University
My story of becoming the head coach of the NIU program starts with my athletic involvement with the team. I started gymnastics when I was 14 through the Illinois High School Gymnastics programs. From there, I always dreamed of doing gymnastics in college and went to NIU because they had a men’s club program.
During my undergraduate degree I trained as well at a private club. At the time, GymACT was just forming and my club coach Josh Levin and I decided we wanted to join GymACT. I was the first athlete on the NIU GymACT team, and the rest of the men’s club team followed me soon after.
While studying for my Master’s at NIU I was team captain and with the help of the coaches and other leaders on the team we grew from just Josh and I to 2 coaches and over 12 athletes. While competing for the team I was able to represent NIU at the first GymACT All-Star competition, US Classic, and at GymACT Nationals. I was also nominated for and won the N2 award in 2021. Our team also set several program records which still stand to this day.
Once I graduated with my Master’s degree I transitioned to being an assistant coach and when Josh stepped down from being head coach I decided to step into the role. This is my first full year as head coach of the NIU program. I am joined by NIU GymACT alumni and my teammates Christian Lunsford and Micah Puckett who help me to assistant coach the program. Our goal is to make sure that NIU Men’s Gymnastics is stable and sustainable while also providing an opportunity for athletes to compete at a college level. This is our 5th year as a GymACT team and we currently have 22 athletes on the team.
Zach Cipra photo gallery: Team winning 2022 GymACT session at Illinois Team Cup, NIU 1st place team at 2022NIU invitational, Zach and Josh coaching Micah Puckett at 2024 US classic, team pictures with Zach as gymnast and coach
Up Next:
Week 7: Saturday, February 22, 2025
Southwest Cup: Arizona State vs. KC United, SC United, Washington, Bay Area Bandits and Rocky Mountain Mavericks
Dual Meet: Georgia United vs. Florida Storm
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