California Golden Bears men’s gymnastics will travel to Stanford’s Burnham Pavilion for the Stanford Open this Saturday, marking their first away meet of the season. The team will compete against Stanford and Ohio State, aiming to build on a strong start to their season and secure individual qualifications for the upcoming Winter Cup. The meet is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT, with live coverage available on Virtius.
Senior gymnast Theodor Roald Gadderud returns to competition after representing Norway at the World Championships during the summer. Gadderud is a four-time All-MPSF athlete who earned three silver medals at the 2025 Norwegian Championships and has consistently competed in multiple events for Cal.
In their home opener on January 9, California hosted Stanford and improved their score by six points compared to last season’s opening meet. The Bears achieved top national scores on vault (55.200) and high bar (53.150), setting a new program record in the latter event. Freshman Nathan Underhill received College Gymnastics Association Co-Rookie of the Week honors following his performance, which included a vault score of 14.000 and a rings score of 12.700. Sophomore Matteo Bardana set a school record on high bar with a score of 13.550.
Stanford enters this weekend’s competition led by head coach Thom Glielmi in his 24th year. The Cardinal have won five of the last six NCAA Championship titles and finished as runners-up in 2025, narrowly behind Michigan. Junior Asher Hong stands out as a six-time NCAA Champion and an Olympic bronze medalist from 2024 for Team USA. Other notable athletes include Kiran Mandava, Kai Uemura, and Jun Iwai—the latter having helped win gold at the 2025 Pan American Championships while earning an individual floor title.
Stanford holds a lead in its all-time series against Cal (153-128-2) and defeated Cal earlier this month with a score of 320.100-309.700.
Ohio State arrives under head coach Rustam Sharipov after finishing seventh nationally last season, just missing an NCAA Championship finals appearance. In their only meet so far this year at the OSU Open, they scored 311.300 points with junior Drake Andrews winning all-around honors (79.400). Ohio State features several returning All-Americans such as Parker Thackston, Jesse Pakele, Kristian Grahovski, David Ramirez, Caden Spencer, Chase Davenport-Mills, Justin Ciccone; freshmen Peyton Contini and Lukas Ross also debuted this season.
Cal leads its historical series against Ohio State by one win (12-11), though was outscored by them at last year’s Stanford Open.
Freshman Nathan Underhill became Cal’s first CGA national rookie honoree since Jasper Smith-Gordon in 2023 after scoring over 14 on vault and contributing strong performances elsewhere during his debut meet.
The Bears’ coaching staff includes alumni Bryan Del Castillo—now head coach after serving previously as assistant—and Donothan Bailey as assistant coach alongside Karl Ziehn who has experience coaching both collegiate teams and U.S National squads.
On international stages last summer, senior Gadderud represented Norway at Worlds after runner-up finishes domestically while sophomore Bardana contributed to Canada’s historic silver medal at the FISU World University Games.
Key returners for Cal include redshirt senior Jasper Smith-Gordon—a two-time CGA Regular-Season All-American—and senior Khalen Curry along with juniors Carter Kim and Jaxon Mitchell who have also earned All-MPSF recognition.
This year’s squad features six rookies—all with strong records in junior competitions—and graduate transfer Kaien Orion from Stanford who appeared in NCAA Finals each of the past two years with that program.
Fans can follow California men’s gymnastics across social media platforms including X (@CalMGym), Instagram (@CalMGym), Facebook (@Cal Men’s Gymnastics), and TikTok (@CalMGym).
