Springfield, Mass. - March 25, 2023 - The Springfield College men's gymnastics team concluded a historic showing at the USA Gymnastics Men's Collegiate National Championships on Saturday, highlighted by national titles from David Handron (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Jakarie Williams (Stockbridge, Ga.).
All told, Springfield would finish off the weekend with 11 USAG All-America honorees, the most in program history, as Dominic Ramalho (Hollis, N.H.), Sam Kaplan (Fairhaven, Mass.), and Owen Carney (Sterling, Mass.) joined Handron and Williams with national honors.
Additionally, in recognition of leading Springfield to a third-place team finish on Friday afternoon, head coach Matt Davis was named the USA Men's Gymnastics National Co-Coach of the Year, sharing the award with Navy's Kip Simmons. This marks the first time that Davis has earned the accolade in his sixth season with the Pride and the first time since 2011 that a Springfield coach has been recognized with the honor. Springfield's assistant coaching group of Christian Wilkey Jr., Victoria Gendreau, and Norm Boulerice were also chosen as the USAG National Assistant Coaching Staff of the Year.
Handron and Williams became the first Springfield College men's gymnasts to earn USAG National Champion honors since 2012 when Ryan Ponce captured the ring title and Jimmy Pezzino won the floor exercise. On Saturday, Handron was the first competitor of the day on the still rings and was tremendous as he hit for winning score of 13.250. Williams was sensational on the floor exercise, turning in a 14.150 to outdistance the field en route to first-place honors.
Ramalho would take fourth on the vault with a 14.150, fourth on the floor with a 13.400, and closed out the meet with a fourth-place finish on the parallel bars 13.350 to follow up his runner-up performance in the all-around on Friday.
Kaplan, who was fourth in the all-around in the first day of competition, would go on to take runner-up honors on the parallel bars with a 13.600, tied for third on the still rings with a 13.100, and scored a 12.750 on the pommel horse. Carney rounded out Springfield's national honors on the day as he registered a 13.700 en route to second-place on the horizontal bar.
Carney also scored a 13.750 on the vault, while Jaden Laubstein (Oakland, Calif.) notched a 12.450 on the horizontal bar, and Colton O'Brien (Crystal Lake, Ill. ) tallied a 12.600 on the pommel horse.
Next Saturday, Springfield will head south again for the ECAC Championships that will be hosted by Navy.
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