With some of the best talent in the country, the Cal men’s gymnastics team had high expectations for itself. But talent was not enough for a national championship, as a Cal squad that had been felled by injuries most of the year finished a disappointing fourth at NCAAs.
The the last day of NCAAs was a fitting end to the 2012 season for Cal — a day full of individual triumphs coupled with an inability to win as a team.
Senior Glen Ishino won the national title on pommel horse in the individual competition and was joined by juniors Donothan Bailey, Dennis Mannhart and Steven Lacombe in receiving All-American honors.
Though the team was healthy in time for NCAAs, the Bears still struggled in their season finale. But in a season of disappointing performances and injuries, the fourth-place finish wasn’t as bad as it seemed.
“Overall, I was happy with the season,” said coach Tim McNeill. “Our scores were a little lower all year, but having our highest scores at NCAAs was the goal all along.”
Hampered by injuries to key gymnasts — Bailey, Ishino and Mannhart — Cal powered through the season by resting its athletes for weeks at a time. Two meets into the season, the team lost Mannhart for two meets when a freak accident left his hand infected and swollen.
Ishino, in an attempt to be healthy in time for NCAA championships and Olympic qualifiers, competed only on the pommel horse until the MPSF conference finals. Bailey continuously led the team as an all-around competitor, but his performances and training were limited because he was constantly battling injuries.
Ishino and Bailey turned out to be disappointments as they were unable to time their successes with the rest of the team. Despite rewarding moments that culminated in the pommel horse national title, Ishino never performed at the level that was expected of him on the other events. The MVP of the team was Mannhart, according to McNeill.
“He showed up every single competition and did his job,” McNeill said. “He placed fifth all-around at NCAAs even with a fall on rings. All year long he was solid for us.”
McNeill planned the season to peak in the postseason, but the team struggled going into NCAAs.
The MPSF meet threw the team for a loop as Ishino and Bailey had their worst performances of the year. Ishino fell on the pommel horse routine, after neglecting other aspects of his training to perfect his pommel horse performance. Yet, McNeill was confident that his team would perform better than they had all year at NCAAs. The fourth-place finish attests to the team’s improvement.
McNeill knows that next year will be very different. Eight seniors are graduating this year, and 14 new freshmen will join the team. Key contributors such as All-Americans Bailey and Lacombe will return next year.
“There’s a lot of talent,” McNeill said. “I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know if we’ll be better or worse than this year. It’s certainly going to be exciting to see what we’re capable of.”
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Used to be a fan of your articles, this just ruined it for me. You are so ill-informed about the sport it’s disgusting. And you call yourself a sports reporter? Not quite..
The only disappointment that relates to Cal Men’s Gymnastics is the lack of support from the university and the lack of understanding in regards to the difficulty of the sport. Men’s Gymnastics is a sport that requires a lifetime of undeviating dedication without the slightest hint of popular recognition. The obstacles that each gymnast must overcome just to reach the elite level are completely overlooked by the majority of the public including the author of this article. To call these athletes a disappointment is like calling Lance Armstrong a disappointment because he did not win every race in his career. These athletes have accomplished so much in their careers and have brought much prestige to the university.
This year, the Cal Men’s Gymnastics team fought for reinstatement, adjusted for the loss of 5 regulars from the competing starting line-up, dealt with the obstacle of having zero scholarship money for recruiting, dealt with career compromising injuries, and competed successfully with many teams that had none of these additional obstacles. Instead of addressing how the team did not reach their maximum potential, why don’t you recognize what was accomplished.
1 Individual National Championship
2 Top-5 Individual All-Around Performances
6 All-American Individual Performances
4th Place Team – Beating Stanford, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Air force, Temple, Illinois-Chicago, Ohio State, Army, & William & Mary
Give the guys some recognition for the not only the great performance but also the accomplishments that they have made all year without the support of the institution that is gaining accolades from their performance.
I encourage the author of this paper to retract this article and provide a story that documents the truth instead of an ill-informed opinion.
This article is an absolute travesty and I can’t believe the editors allowed it to be published. I don’t know how much experience Warren has with covering gymnastics, but he obviously doesn’t know enough to write a coherent piece, and isn’t a wise enough journalist to check his facts before putting this garbage out there for the public to read. A very apologetic retraction should be published promptly, and congratulations should be given to a team that was decimated by injuries all year but finished the season with a great performance. The entire Cal gymnastics community is very proud of what our boys accomplished and is by no means “disappointed by a team that failed to live up to expectations”. Give me a break.
This article is ill-informed and biased. Get your facts straight and try to learn SOMETHING about the sport before you publish trash like this.
I don’t see how a team that is ranked 8th going into an NCAA tournament and finishing 4th is a failure to their expectations. Of course their goal may have been to win a National Championship, but who’s goal isn’t? They may not have won the competition, but they had garnered a season highs two days in a row, had 1 national champion, and 6 All-Americans. What have the other Cal sports done this past year? (Not to bash the other sports but) Basketball- Cal lost in the first round of NCAA. Football-Loss in the Holiday bowl and finished with a 7-6 record. When is the last time they made it to a Championship/Rose Bowl game, 1959? And these teams still get praised? C’mon.
With a sport like gymnastics, it is an individual’s sport. And yet, it is still a team sport. Just because one person does not have a good showing does not mean the whole team is a disappointment. We rely on every member of the team to pull their weight. Not just the standouts. Ishino, Bailey, and Mannhart are truly great gymnast and without them/their scores, yes the team does suffer. I’m sorry to say, but this “disappointment” you are talking about should not be placed solely on Ishino, Bailey, and Mannhart but the entire team as well. However, despite a poor showing at MPSFs, they clearly trained hard, pushed themselves physically and mentally, to get where they ended up. They beat the past two NCAA Championship Team, Michigan and Stanford for christs sakes.
For what this team has gone through in the past year, this is a tremendous accomplishment. This team literally loss their program last year. Lost 4 key graduating seniors from the 2o11 season.Was not able to recruit. Made due with the returning team and two walk-ons. It was definitely hard to see how this season would turn out. Beyond all expectations, they have achieved SO MUCH, with VERY LITTLE help from the school. I am just thankful for the effort from the friends, families, alumni, and everyone else who helped save this program.
All I can say is that these types of articles that shed negative light on sports like gymnastics not only makes the team look bad but the staff/writers of the University as well. Clearly this reporter has been ill-informed of what the Cal Men’s Gymnastics had done this past season and this article should be retracted. That is all I’m saying.
I demand a retraction, LAUFER!
Daily Cal… I’m DISAPPOINTED in you for allowing this ridiculous article in your paper. Get the facts straight. A$$
I agree! You should be ashamed of yourself Laufer! You’ll be sorry!
Calling those boys “disappointments” is absurd and offending.