STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford continued to showcase its status as one of the nation’s elite programs in 2015, earning its ninth top-three finish at the NCAA Championships in the past 10 seasons.
The Cardinal completed the season with a second-place finish at the national championships. Stanford went 19-4, registering 17 wins over top-10 opponents, including four ranked in the top five. Five Cardinal gymnasts combined for 10 All-America honors and three gymnasts earned NCAA titles.
There were plenty of highlight team performances throughout the season, including recording its highest finish since winning the 2011 NCAA title and a stretch from Feb. 13-March 6 in which the Cardinal broke the 440-point mark in three consecutive meets to accumulate four victories.
Stanford received numerous individual contributions including three national champions. Sophomore Akash Modi became the first Stanford gymnast since Jon Louis in 1986 to win the NCAA title in the all-around. Modi tallied a season-high 90.450 at the NCAA Championships Finals to claim top marks in the all-around. He was the first Cardinal gymnast to claim an NCAA individual title since 2012 when Eddie Penev earned victories on floor and vault.
A day later, Sean Senters and Brian Knott claimed NCAA titles of their own on vault and parallel bars, respectively. Senters scored 15.475 on vault and Knott tallied a 15.200 on parallel bars to win the first NCAA championships of their careers.
The future remains bright for the Cardinal which will return 18 of 20 gymnasts and 24 of 30 routines from this year’s NCAA Finals.
Among the returners is Modi, who was named the Mountain Pacific Gymnast of the Year for the second consecutive year and led the nation with five All-America honors. Modi led the country with six Collegiate Gymnastics Association Gymnast of the Week awards and paced the MPSF with four Gymnast of the Week honors.
Along with Modi, Stanford returns a strong core of All-Americans including Knott, Robert Neff, Taylor Seaton and Dennis Zaremski.
Despite returning a majority of its routines from the 2014 season, the Cardinal will have leadership voids to fill as it graduates seniors Michael Levy and Senters. The duo held regular lineup spots throughout their time with the team and carried a wealth of experience.
With the core group of competitors intact and talented incoming freshman class of seven gymnasts, Stanford will again be poised to challenge for its sixth national championship in 2016.
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The following is a rundown of honors accumulated by the team and individuals from the 2015 season:
- Second-place NCAA Championships finish
- 17th consecutive NCAA Championships appearance, 32nd overall
- 10th straight appearance at the NCAA Championships Finals
- Ninth top-three finish in the past 10 years at the NCAA Championships
- Fourth second-place finish in program history
- Three NCAA individual champions: Brian Knott (PB), Akash Modi (AA), Sean Senters (VT)
- Five Cardinal gymnasts combined for 10 All-America honors
- 113 All-America honors since 2002 (Head coach Thom Glielmi’s first season.)
- Three MPSF Championships individual event titles (Akash Modi: AA, PB, FX)
- Conference-best 10 MPSF All-Academic awards
- Sean Senters became Stanford’s 22nd Nissen-Emery Award Nominee
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Brandon Beckhardt
MPSF All-Academic
Jonathan Deaton
MPSF All-Academic
Drew Willoughby
MPSF All-Academic
Brian Knott
NCAA parallel bars champion (April 11)
Two-time All-American (PH, PB)
Capital One Academic All-America first team
Capital One Academic All-District At-Large Team District 8
MPSF All-Academic
Michael Levy
NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
Stanford Award of Excellence
MPSF All-Academic
Andrew Misiolek
MPSF All-Academic
Akash Modi
NCAA All-Around champion (April 10)
Five-time All-American (FX, PH, PB, HB, AA)
MPSF Gymnast of the Year
Claimed three MPSF titles (FX, PB, AA)
MPSF All-Academic
Led nation with six CGA National Gymnast of the Week honors (Jan. 15, Jan. 22, Jan. 29, Feb. 12, April 2, April 17)
Led conference with four MPSF Gymnast of the Week honors (Jan. 13, Jan. 27, Feb. 10, March 10)
Robert Neff
All-American on high bar
Taylor Seaton
All-American on vault
MPSF All-Academic
Sean Senters
Nissen-Emery Award finalist
NCAA vault champion (April 11)
All-American on vault
MPSF All-Academic
Dennis Zaremski
MPSF All-Academic
