GymACT 2025 Season: week 4
Weekend of February 1-2
Aloha from the rock in the middle of the Pacific. GymACT week 4 was full of emotion and I wanna start off with the darkest and most difficult news of the moment: Our hearts are heavy with the tragic passing of Temple University’s freshmen, Tyler Sabapathy. Too soon. Way too f’ing SOON! I had the PLEASURE of meeting Tyler a couple years ago at the GymACT summer camp and he stood out in all the right ways and for all the right reasons. He came to the Temple team full of energy and passion. He bore the jersey #22 with pride and enthusiasm. He elevated ALL of us around him. Your heart and your spirit will be missed, sir. Rest in peace, #22.
Deep breath.
…
Quick recap of who was where: (All Meets, Saturday, 2/1/2025)
2025 SC United Invitational: AIM Sportsplex Seal Beach, CA
ASU (🏆303.25), Bay Area Bandits (273.80), SCUnited (264.55)
John Roethlisberger Iceberg Open: Concordia University
Minnesota (🏆296.95), Iowa (281.45), KCU (178.950, 3-up team)
Circle of Stars: Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, IN
Indy-Hio (🏆 280.95) & NYA (272.35)
Oh, boy, oh, boy! Week 4 competitions were once again exciting to watch and the SEASON drama is building stronger than ever! Arizona took a road trip down to Southern California for the Hearts United meet and they were HOT! Pardon the expression. Coach Barclay’s crew was on top of the charts for so long they’ve found themselves in a VERY uncomfortable place: chasing other team(s) for the national title. OOOOOHHHHHH… I bet that makes the sun devil blood boil, so they are doing what they do best and showing everyone that GREAT gymnastics is still being produced in Arizona and that they are a force to be reckoned with! Arizona posted the current highest national score to RTN this weekend as the first team to break the 300 point mark this year. And, judging by the looks of things, still have MUCH to improve throughout the season. YES! It’s gonna be another season to remember!!!!! #letsgo!
And that’s as I claim to understand it,
Breeze
From the coaches:
Reporting highlights from individual programs.
BANDITS
The Bay Area Team improved 7.5 points in their total team score from Windy City to SCU Invite, and will be hungry to continue that growth as they advance through season with more and more Team Members joining their ranks as the season develops. The bandits came away with 2 Event Titles, Carl Meader with a 13.05 on Rings, and William Pearce with a 13.0 on High Bar. Evan Hymanson finished right behind William with a 12.9 to take the 2nd place spot. Evan continues to build difficulty in his High Bar routine, while keeping the incredibly difficult triple pike dismount consistent. William Pearce debuted a newly submitted Pommel Horse Dismount, half-spindle handstand dismount, which has now been added to the Provisional GymACT Code of Points. Usman Kashif, Ryan Alunan, Sam Cohen, Carl Meader, all contributed debut Performances for the Bandits.
Usman Kashif is a Cal Berkeley student from India, this was his first time on the competition floor in over 6 years, and he put down a clean, hit floor routine with a stuck dismount.
Ryan Alunan is another rookie to GymACT, who followed suit on floor with some excellent twisting and some room to grow in difficulty.
Sam Cohen is a Stanford Post-Grad student studying the deepest realms of physics, who debuted our 3rd highest rings score of the competition with some really beautiful crosses.
Carl Meader is a former UW gymnast, who has been pulled out of a 7-year retirement and has come back with an impressive amount of Rings Strength, and is sure to be one to watch all season on the event, as there’s plenty more in the tank.
The Bandits' highlight performances came on high-bar with a 4-up 4-count lineup that went 4-for-4 and put up a 48.2! Launching them into 5th on the event nationally.
Scores: Team Total 273.6, FX: 48, PH: 39.15, SR: 46.8, VT: 46.45, PB: 45.0, HB: 48.2
MINNESOTA
In their 4th weekend in a row of competition, Minnesota continued their winning ways at the 29th Annual John Roethlisberger Iceberg Invitational by beating Iowa and Kansas City alongside the Level 9’s & 10’s in Dale Bullivant’s annual extravaganza. Minnesota head coach was unable to attend the meet due to his presence at his mom’s 99th birthday celebration in Plymouth, MA! Lulu Burns was happy to see her 2nd son swing by to enjoy the festivities and both Mike & Lulu watched the meet on the Instagram live stream!
“Wag of the finger” editor’s side note: DANG, Mike, you’re STILL subjecting the poor woman to “gym mom status”??? Give the gal a freaking break! Happy bday, Mom. ;)
Minnesota had a bit of an off night and posted a 297.15 with a drop in their hit percentage from the previous week. ‘We looked a little soft in a few spots,’ said Burns. ‘But our freshman fireball Caleb Gurman turned in another firey performance, winning the AA, FX, & V with some awesome sets.’
A much needed week off is in the schedule for next weekend as they prepare to host the MN GymACT Invite the day after St Valentine's Day.
IOWA
I’d like to recognize sophomore Connor VanBocxlaer for an amazing start to his season, this competition was Connor’s first meet back from a bad landing resulting to multiple torn ligaments in his knee. Connor worked hard in practice to make his season debut on the parallel bars, although it was his 2nd ever collegiate competition Connor looked like a seasoned pro with a routine with only 6 tenths off. Amazing job from Connor and the rest of Iowa with a final team score of a 281.45 this week!
Stick Masters: Week 4 stuck dismounts
Arizona State: 4
Bay Area Bandits: 6
Iowa: 8
Kansas City United: 5 (3 for 3 on HB)
🏆 Minnesota: 12
New York Alliance: 4
SC United: 3
New section - Coach Spotlight: Will Pearce, Bay Area Bandits
Coach-Athlete William Pearce got his start in GymACT with the SCU Team during the impetus of GymACT, with his junior season on the team being the inaugural GymACT season! Many old teammates and coaches from his time at UCSB and Southern California were there to support this weekend at Hearts United competition, in his old stomping grounds. While he got his start with the SCU program, Will has come into his own, both as an athlete AND coach with the exceptional growth of the Bay Area program. He is excited to put an exclamation point on his second season at the helm of a deeply talented team come Westerns and Nationals.
“As a coach” highlight: Bandits have improved their team score considerably with each competition.
“As an Athlete” highlight: Will just had a new skill added to the gymact rule book, successfully performing a unique dismount on pommel horse: flair spindle to handstand.
GOTW - Gymnast of the week nominations:
Minnesota: Caleb Gurman
Freshman Caleb Gurman took home top honors in his All around debut against Kansas City & Iowa. He also posted meet-winning scores on FX (13.25) and Vault (14.25) with an amazing stuck Kasamatsu 1 1/2. “If this performance isn’t enough to take home the GOTW Award, then his victory celebration certainly should do it,” said his coach Mike Burns. Caleb continues to bring a heavy dose of positive energy to continues to help Minnesota stay atop the National standings.
Bay Area Bandits: Carl Meader
Carl Meader came out of retirement in style! Immediately jumping into 3rd in the RTN rankings for Rings with a 13.05 rings set. Carl Meader SCU Invite 2025 Rings
Carl Meader previously competed for the UW Team 6 years ago. He has had a challenging road to getting to where he is now, battling shoulder injuries, and facing a challenging training situation that only allows him to practice once a week, due to both availability with his work schedule and the lack of gyms offering training times in the Sacramento Area. He has persevered by creating his own rings setups, which he attaches to trees to continue to build the Rings’ set he was finally able to show off at this debut competition as a Bandit.
I think he is an ideal GOTW candidate, not just because of the quality of the gymnastics he showed this weekend, but because of the work ethic and training conditions he has had to work with to make it to this point.
Arizona: Nicky Franz
Nicky is a 4th year gymnast who had a GREAT competition Saturday at the Seal Beach Invite. Nicky contributed a good share of the team points with no more than 2nd place on all 4 events that he worked. In that way he helped the team score over 300 the 300 mark for the 1st time this year. Nicky scored a 14.1 on floor which is the highest GymACT score on Floor this year by a margin of .8! His stuck double pike dismount after a super clean set didn't hurt either! More than individual accolades, Nicky is a team man who is the loudest guy on the floor the whole meet. He has never won this award, but this week is surely a great contender for it.
Scores: Seal Beach Invitational (1 Arizona State 303.250, 2 Bay Area Bandits 273.600, 3 SC United 264.550), 1st FX 14.100, 2nd PH 12.400, 2nd SR 12.950, 2nd VT 13.550
Connecting the dots … Where are they now?
The man, the myth, the LEGEND! John Roethlisberger!!!! What a treat to catch him on the instagram live feed just before the awards ceremony. John has been part of the gymnastics family (literally and figuratively) his whole life. He didn’t just follow the LARGE tumbling steps of his dad, gymnastics royalty, Fred Roethlisberger, John put HIMSELF in the history books (U. of Minnesota All American, USA olympian, skill inventor, etc). The breadth, depth and longevity of his positive impact on the community is impressive. Looking for a gymnastics summer camp? Flip Fest is the place to go. Need a big and amazing gymnastics meet to spice up your season? Iceberg Open is the place to be. The man may SEEM to have the gymnastics midas touch, but what’s the “secret” sauce? HARD WORK, discipline, dedication and a great big whooping serving of Minnesota grit that’s what. We’re lucky to have you, John. Thanks for all you do for the family and thank you especially for your continued support of the Minnesota GymACT program.
Final note: Tyler Sabapathy, 2006-2025
We, the GymACT family, lost a precious member with the untimely passing of Tyler Sabapathy of Temple University’s GymACT Program. This loss is hard to grasp. Our hearts are heavy. We know that from this moment on our actions will be a tribute, an offering, to Tyler for all that he gave us during a life much too short.
Tyler’s spirit will live on in all of us who share his love of gymnastics. Each of us will grieve his absence. Each of us will carry his family and friends in our hearts. Each of us will support one another as he would want, reflecting the way he supported his teammates. We lost a friend, a team member, a brother. The world lost a bright light, an emerging leader. We will keep his energy and his strong spirit burning bright in all our hearts for our brother, Tyler.
Up Next:
Saturday, February 8
Daytona Beach Open: Florida Storm, Georgia United
Dual Meet: Temple @ NY Alliance
Xtreme Altitude Invitational: Washington @ Rocky Mountain