Week four brings us a slew of dual meets, including several featuring top 10 matchups. This year, Big Ten regular season meets have extra meaning, as a Big Ten regular season champion will be determined using win-loss records from those meets. So, no longer are teams just vying for a good score, they need to be battling for the win. We have three of the Big Ten duals this weekend, so we’ll see how the standings begin to shape-up after this weekend.
As always, you’ll find everything you need to follow along with all the meets happening this weekend, including previews of the top matchups and every scoring and video link you could ever need.
Can’t-Miss Matchups
No. 3 Nebraska at No. 5 Penn State
When You Need to Tell Your Friends You’re Busy: Saturday, January 26 at 4:00 p.m. ET
Why You Should Cancel Plans For It: The only top five matchup of the weekend features two Big Ten teams off to hot starts with their seasons. After a weekend off, Nebraska heads east to face a Penn State team who will be trying to replicate the energy from its opening weekend to get a win in its home debut. Penn State’s third-ranked all arounder Sam Zakutney only competed three events last weekend, but if he returns this Saturday to all six, we will get a stellar all around battle between him and the Huskers’ Anton Stephenson who is ranked fifth. The most exciting rotations of this meet will likely be the first two, with Penn State ranked fourth on floor and first on pommel horse and Nebraska just behind them on both, ranked fifth and second.
Routines to Avoid Going to the Bathroom During: Isaac Hammet (Penn State) on rings, Stephen Nedoroscik (Penn State) on pommel horse, Anton Stephenson (Nebraska) on vault, Sam Zakutney (Penn State) on floor, Andrew Zymball (Nebraska) on parallel bars
No. 5 Michigan at No. 7 Minnesota
When You Need to Tell Your Friends You’re Busy: Saturday, January 26 at 8:00 p.m. ET
Why You Should Cancel Plans For It: Last Saturday at the Windy City Invite, Michigan was able to just edge out Minnesota for second, but two weeks ago Minnesota put up a score nearly two points higher than the Wolverines’ best. This meet could go either way, giving us a thrilling matchup to watch. Both teams come into the meet with similar strengths and weaknesses, but watch for Minnesota’s vault and Michigan’s floor as the events that they will try to boost their scores on. We will also be treated to an epic all around battle between current U.S. national team member Cameron Bock of Michigan and former U.S. national team member and reigning NCAA all around runner-up Shane Wiskus of Minnesota. Wiskus has been struggling with consistency between events so far this season, but in front of his home crowd for the first time this season he should be fired up to hit six for six.
Routines to Avoid Going to the Bathroom During: Cameron Bock (Michigan) on parallel bars and high bar, Mitchell Brown (Michigan) on parallel bars, Emyre Cole (Michigan) on floor and vault, Vitali Kan (Minnesota) on vault, Justin Karstadt (Minnesota) on pommel horse, Timmy Kutyla (Minnesota) on high bar
Meet You Didn’t Know You Should Be Interested In
No. 9 Navy at No. 15 William & Mary
When the Meet’s Happening: Saturday, January 26 at 4:00 p.m. ET
Why You Should See the Error of Your Ways: This is the third meeting between the two teams in as many weeks, but still provides an interesting matchup. While Navy should easily win as a team, the Midshipmen will be looking to put up another 400-plus score to continue their great start to the season and solidify themselves as a top 10 team. William & Mary doesn’t quite have the depth on each event to compete with a top 10 foe, but the Tribe’s event specialists are some of the best. Senior Jacopo Gliozzi has represented Italy internationally on pommel horse, and senior David Watkins is currently ranked fourth in the country on rings.
Routines to Look Up on YouTube Before the Meet That Prove Our Point: Lucas Beltran (Navy) on floor and vault, Jacopo Gliozzi (William & Mary) on pommel horse, Ben Provost (Navy) on parallel bars, David Watkins (William & Mary) on rings
Meets You Should at Least Record and Watch Later
No. 8 Ohio State at No. 1 Oklahoma
When to Find It on the TV Guide: Saturday, January 26 at 8:00 p.m. ET
Why You Should Clear Space on Your DVR: Last year, Ohio State nearly ended the Sooners’ undefeated streak when these teams met in Columbus. With Oklahoma’s score from last week over 20 points higher than Ohio State’s only score of the season so far, it seems unlikely the upset will happen at this point in the year. However, this meet will be full of superstar individuals to see. We are still on Yul Moldauer all around watch—especially now that he is teasing us with video of his triple double layout dismount off high bar—but however many or few routines he competes, they will be worth checking out. Alec Yoder of Ohio State, Moldauer’s 2018 World Championships teammate, is a stud on pommel horse and parallel bars but can hold his own in the all around as well.
Routines to Check Out If You Can’t Rewatch Everything: Levi Anderson (Oklahoma) on high bar, Joey Bonanno (Ohio State) on floor, Gage Dyer (Oklahoma) on vault, Yul Moldauer (Oklahoma) on rings, Alec Yoder (Ohio State) on pommel horse and parallel bars
No. 10 Iowa at No. 4 Illinois
When to Find It on the TV Guide: Saturday, January 26 at 7:00 p.m. ET
Why You Should Clear Space on Your DVR: While Illinois is the easy favorite, Iowa has been known to pull some surprise upsets quite often—the Hawkeyes knocked off both Penn State and Minnesota in tri-meets last year. With meets between Big Ten teams counting toward the new regular season championship, the young Iowa team will try to steal a win in Champaign over an Illini team with a legitimate threat to sweep both the regular season and Big Ten championship meet titles.
Routines to Check Out If You Can’t Rewatch Everything: Alex Diab (Illinois) on rings, Bennet Huang (Iowa) on floor, Mitchell Mandozzi (Iowa) on high bar, Clay Mason Stephens (Illinois) on vault, Nicholas Merryman (Iowa) on parallel bars, Michael Paradise (Illinois) on pommel horse
Links and Things
These aren’t the only meets happening this weekend. To see all the matchups all in one place, take a look at our master schedule. You can also find live scoring and video links for all this weekend’s competitions below.
| Date | Time (ET) | Teams | Scoring Link | Video Link |
| Sat, Jan 26 | 4 p.m. | Navy at William & Mary | Scores | Facebook Live |
| Sat, Jan 26 | 4 p.m. | Nebraska at Penn State | Scores | Stream |
| Sat, Jan 26 | 7 p.m. | Iowa at Illinois | Scores | Stream |
| Sat, Jan 26 | 8 p.m. | Michigan at Minnesota | Scores | BTN Plus |
| Sat, Jan 26 | 8 p.m. | Ohio State at Oklahoma | Scores | Fox Sports Oklahoma |
| Sun, Jan 27 | 1 p.m. | Army at Springfield | Scores | Stream |
| Sun, Jan 27 | 9 p.m. | Stanford at California | Scores | PAC12 |
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Article by Brandis Heffner
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