January 23 -25, 2009

The 17th annual Stanford Open is January 23-25, 2009.  The meet will be similar in format to prior years, with a few new twists.  University of Nebraska and Cal have both committed to attend the 2009 meet. We are planning two level 10 sessions on Friday. It worked well last year and accommodated the large number of Level 10’s wanting to participate in the meet. Saturday will have the level 4s and 5s in the morning/noontime followed by the NCAA session in the evening. In 2009 we plan to shift the Sunday session schedule around, with Level 7’s and 6’s in the morning/noontime and 9’s and 8’s in the afternoon/evening.

Location & Facilities
Stanford University is located 25 miles south of San Francisco. The meet is held in the restored historic Burnham Pavilion, in the heart of the Stanford campus. Burnham Pavilion and the adjacent Ford Center are excellent gymnastics facilities with good seating and viewing angles for spectators.

Competition
The 2008 meet drew over 700 competitors from 50 different clubs. Some of the best clubs from around the country were represented. The meet is open to all levels (4’s to Elite). Registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis. We filled up and cut off registration in early November last year, so plan to register early – see 2009 Registration.

Saturday Evening's NCAA, Elite & Level 10 Session
Saturday evening’s session is unique in that it features  NCAA, Elite and Level 10 gymnasts. Friday evening’s qualifying Level 10 gymnasts compete as a high school All-Star team against the collegiate teams in an NCAA format meet. The big raucous crowd and high level of competition make for a unique experience and great entertainment.

2008 NCAA Highlights
The 2008 Saturday evening NCAA Session was a near sell-out. Stanford and Cal started off fast with the lead switching back and forth over the first four rotations.  Stanford came on strong in the final two rotations (Parallel Bars and High Bar) to win with a final team score of 361.35, with Cal coming in 2nd ~3.5 points behind and Nebraska finishing 3rd. David Sender and Sho Nakamori led Stanford finishing 1st and 2nd in the All Around.

2008 JO Highlights
Several JO gymnasts had outstanding performances; notables include:

  • Glen Ishino of SCATS - Level 10 (Senior) – 87.65 AA,
  • Christopher Turner of WCOGA – Level 10 (Junior)  – 83.95 AA
  • Adrian De Los Angeles of SCATS– Level 9 – 80.95 AA,
  • A.J. Schottstaedt of Redwood Empire– Level 8 – 75.15 AA, 
  • Trystan Baker of Technique– Level 7 – 56.35 AA, 
  • Joshua Rauchwerger of Nor Cal American – Level 6 – 57.15 AA,
  • Ayden Harward of SCATS – Level 5 – 57.2 AA,
  • Samual Steeg of Nor Cal American– Level 4 – 57.85 AA

2008 Webcast
2008 was the 2nd year the entire meet was webcast and we plan to continue in 2009.  From all the input we’ve received, the 2008 webcast was very popular and a lot of fun.  We recorded over 28,000 ‘hits’ during the course of the meet. People from as far away as India and Brazil got to see their family members in competition. PJ Romero did great job setting up and operating all the equipment. The many gymnasts that helped with the commentary also did a great job. After the meet we found that the files are too big and cumbersome to deal with so we did not archive the files for future viewing.

2008 Meet Photos
We’ve posted several hundred photos from the meet on SmugMug.com.  The photographers tried to capture as many gymnasts as possible.  Take a look.  Copies are available at a nominal cost.