CGA X Inside Gymnastics Men’s NCAA Class Of 2026 Recruiting Roundup! Next Up, Ohio State!

NCAA MEN’S GYMNASTICS: Recruiting Roundup!

Now that you’ve met many of the freshmen slated to compete during the 2025-26 Men’s NCAA Gymnastics season (see that series here on InsideGym.com), we’re excited to launch a look at the Class of 2026 – NLI Signings for each program!

In this new Inside Gymnastics series in partnership with the Men’s College Gymnastics Association (CGA), we asked each head coach about who’s graduating, who’s coming up, what they look for in their recruits, where each Class of 2026 NLI signee could potentially contribute to the lineup, and what makes their program unique. You’ll see what they had to say right here on InsideGym.com!

We’ll also add updates here and across our social media platforms as the season progresses, should anything change. Plus! Stay tuned right here for Men’s NCAA Coverage throughout the season, and be on the lookout for our upgraded Routine Of The Week segment and more @InsideGym once the season gets rolling.

Up next, Ohio State! The Buckeyes finished fourth as a team in the 2025 NCAA qualifying session on Friday evening at the 2025 NCAA Championships with 319.459 points. The team had six gymnasts compete 10 routines in the NCAA Finals on Saturday evening. Kameron Nelson became the first Buckeye to win an individual NCAA event title since Alec Yoder won pommel horse in 2019.

Nelson stuck his final pass on floor and stuck his vault as he finished in the top three in the competition in both events, bringing his career NCAA Championship All-American total to six (three on floor, two on vault and one on all-around). Parker Thackston finished in the top eight on the pommel horse for the second consecutive season.

Head coach Rustam Sharipov: “We had a great response after not qualifying as a team. We had great representation – Kameron Nelson earned two All-American honors and won a national championship and Parker Thackston also is an All-American. I’m happy that the individuals, especially the freshmen, had an opportunity to compete on this stage. Two freshmen made the finals on two events apiece, which is a great experience they can build off for the future.”

Nelson went on to compete at the 2025 World Championships as a member of Team USA in Jakarta, Indonesia. He finished fourth in the finals on floor with a score of 14.133. He was third (14.300) on floor during the qualifying rounds, where the top eight individuals moved onto the finals. Nelson also competed in the qualifiers on vault, earning a score of 13.466.

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We asked Ohio State head coach Rustam Sharipov and assistant coach Drew Moling…

Who will we graduate in 2026: 

Justin Ciccone, Kristian Grahovski, Jacob Harmon, Jesse Pakele, Caden Spencer, Parker Thackston

Class of 2026 – NLI Signings/ What each athlete will bring to the program:

Rustam: All the guys have a good background as junior athletes. Anthony, he’s on the junior national team. Daniel, he had an international experience competing because he competed at some of the junior competitions (Pan Ams) in Central America. Now, since the rule is changed with the eight skills, that’s what the juniors are doing. I think that transition should be relatively easier for the juniors because before it was from eight skills go to 10 skills, and some kids struggled with that. I think that’s a really good for us.

All the guys who we recruited, our main focus for them is to do the all-around. We’re trying to reload this year, because we’re going to lose six guys. A lot of those guys, they’re All-American, and a few of them are all-arounders, Big 10 champs. Guys who are going to be really, really hard to replace. So, that’s why our main focus is getting guys to focus on the all-around, because that’s what’s going to help us.

One of the kids who is not on the press release is Elias Tucker. He’s a walk-on. He’s guaranteed a roster spot. We feel like he’s a diamond in the rough. He is young, very ambitious. All those guys, they had opportunity to come to our summer camp, so we work with them. I think he is going to be one of those dark horses. We’re hoping when he joins our school in a couple of years, he could be really, really effective for our team.

Chane Cumbermack | All-Around | 5’6″ | Tamarac, Fla.
Chane Cumbermack joins the Buckeyes from Tamarac, Fla. where he has experience training at NOVA (level 10), FGTC (levels 6-10) and TAG (levels 4-6) throughout his years as a gymnast. While at NOVA, Cumbermack qualified twice to compete in the Regional Men’s Championship. He also finished seventh in the all-around at the 2025 Xfinity Men’s Gymnastics Championships and 14^th in the all-around at the 2025 Men’s National Championships.

Outside the gym, Cumbermack earned Academic All-American for his work in the classroom and also earned the Florida Virtual HA – Success Award.

“I chose The Ohio State University because it represents everything I value – academic excellence, elite athletics, exceptional coaches and a wholistic approach that includes a team culture that is built on self-discipline, hard work, respect, communication and diversity,” Cumbermack said.

Daniel Montes | All-Around | 5’7″ | McKinney, Texas
Daniel Montes joins the Buckeyes from McKinney, Texas, where he has trained at his father’s gym, WOGA Gymnastics, since 2021. Montes has experience both at the national and international levels, recently competing in the 2025 Pan American Junior Games in Asunción. He’s also competed at the 2024 Pan American Junior Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the Central American Championships in 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2024. Montes owns 17 gold, five silver and two bronze medals from international competition.

Montes owns a pair of gold medals on vault from the Texas State Championships in addition to gold medals on vault, pommel horse, rings, parallel bars, pommel horse and all-around from the Regional Championships. From the Western Championships, Montes’ golds come from pommel horse, vault and all-around. He most recently won the all-around and vault competitions at the 2025 National Championships, also finishing third on pommel horse. Outside of the gym, Montes works at a silk art workshop.

“I chose Ohio State because of the amazing team environment and the genuine people in the program,” Montes said. “The coaches made me feel valued from the very beginning.”

Anthony Ruscheinsky | All-Around | 5’7″ | Oconomowoc, Wis.
Anthony Ruscheinsky joins the Buckeyes from Oconomowoc, Wis., where he’s trained at the Salto Gymnastics Center since 2013. Ruscheinsky recently finished fifth in the all-around at the 2025 U.S. Championships. He first competed nationally at the 2021 Men’s Development Program National Championships, winning high bar and finishing eighth on vault. Ruscheinsky has also competed at the Men’s Development Program National Championships in 2024 (floor (fourth), vault (sixth) and all-around (eighth)) and 2025 (rings (second), all-around (fifth) and parallel bars (sixth)).

Ruscheinsky was part of the runner-up team at the 2025 Elite Team Cup. He also competed at the 2024 and 2025 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships. In the 2025 competition, Ruscheinsky finished fourth on vault, fifth in the all-around competition and also competed on high bar. When he isn’t training, Ruscheinsky coaches recreational boys and girls gymnastics classes at Salto Gymnastics Center.

“I chose to come to Ohio State University because it’s where I feel at home,” Ruscheinsky said. “I love the team, coaches, college and atmosphere.”

Top traits we look for beyond gymnastics skills:

Drew: We’re always looking for athletes that are going to help us in the gym and at the competitions. But, I think most importantly, we’re also trying to recruit kids that have really good character, that are going to add value to our program and our team culture. Because that’s something that we feel is very important to keep building our team culture from where it’s at right now. And these guys, we truly believe that they’re going to add value to what we’ve been building.

Rustam: We are trying to build leaders. We want the guys who are not afraid to initiate. That’s what we’re all about because, again, we’re looking beyond the college. The main thing in our athletic department, focusing on the last, I would say, 10 years, is life after college because we want to prepare them for that.

What makes Ohio State stand out as a program:

Drew: To [Rustam’s] point, our main focus is preparing our student athletes for life after college. That’s something that I think separates Ohio State from the rest of the country, in my opinion. We have people at Ohio State that their job is to help our student athletes get jobs and prepare them for life after college. 97% of our graduating student athletes, not just from our program, but of all Ohio State with all student athletes, 97% have a plan at graduation. That’s something that we really stress when we are going through the process with the recruits and their parents is that, ‘hey, you come here, you’re going to have a plan when you graduate.’

Rustam: I would also point out that I think from all the teams on the campus, I think our team is most diverse in terms of majors, because we’re not just focusing on one or two, three easy majors. The kids come in with the goals, what they want to study. Again, because of the conflict with the practice or something, it’s going to be harder. We’re not changing their goals. So that, I think, it’s also very important.

The resources. You have a question for anything or you want to build something, we will find the people who can help you. Again, we have sports psych, we have nutritionists, we have lawyers, we have internships. The alumni base is also big because the alums who got the jobs already, they’re helping our student athletes with internships, and they’re sharing their experiences. I think that’s what would be the key unless I’m missing anything…

Drew: No, I mean, you pretty much nailed it. I was going to say we already hit on it. But again, just preparing our student athletes for life after, I mean, that really separates us. And to his point, I think just our support from our alumni. We have a really large alumni base at Ohio State, not just former Ohio State gymnasts, but just the alumni engagement overall, I think is huge. I think that’s something that really separates Ohio State from the rest of the country.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE/OPPORTUNITY THIS SEASON:

Rustam: I think the challenge is, it’s not just for us, for any student athlete, is to stay healthy throughout the season and for the postseason. That’s what we’re trying to focus and build, that the guys make sure that they’re physically and mentally prepared, because the season is long. It’s three months straight, maybe a couple of weekends off. That’s the biggest thing.

The biggest opportunity, we have six seniors. That’s the core of our team. The leadership of two co-captains and the other four guys, they’re leading since we finished last season and we started the summer preparation. I think that was great.

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