Western Nationals, and Men’s 2025 Season In The Books

Western Nationals was held in Reno Nevada. This was the first year that The Cave had athletes qualifying to this event.

Our first session was with a lone athlete Jasper D. At nationals the age groups were split into separate sessions leaving Jasper running it solo. He had a great meet, starting on vault, and working his way through the events. While he did not obtain the podium on any events, he had a solid meet with no falls, and hit his best all around score of the season with a 64.35. He placed 8th on pommel horse, and 11th all around.

Our second session was attended by Nico, Aiden, and Teo. Starting on high bar unfortunately Nico had a fall on his clear hip, which took him out of the running on his strongest event. Aiden over rotated his dismount and also fell. Floor was also a little bit rough with Teo having two falls. Next up was pommel horse, a notoriously difficult event, particularly at level 7.

Transitioning to level 7 is difficult for the boys because they have to move from competing on the mushroom (a training aid for the pommel horse), to the actual horse. Our target this year was simply to get through routines in competition. The boys really stepped up, not only regularly making their routines in competition, but showing very well. Both Aiden and Teo hit their routines solidly to finish in 2nd, and 7th place on Pommel horse respectively.

We made some decisions this year to push a few athletes and enable our athletes to compete together. This had two of our athletes moving directly from level 5 to level 7.