As expected, SCATS' Sam Mikulak won his first U.S. Championship, and did so in a runaway romp. Mikulak (86.50) finished a staggering 5.45 points ahead of 2nd place finisher Jacoby Rubin (81.05). The 16-18 age division title was never in doubt as Mikulak ended up capturing titles on floor, pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar. This particular title has been elusive for Mikulak, after having been the runner-up to John Orozco the past two years. But this title is sweet, as it caps off his brilliant club career. Still, Mikulak has unfinished business [...more]
5280 Gymnastics in Wheat Ridge, CO is one of the top elite men's club gymnastics programs in the country. In recent years, the club has become a consistent producer of collegiate gymnasts such as Stanford's Lucas Hughes, Iowa's Anton Gryshayev and Air Force's Colton Wulf. 5280 is also the home of rising star Yul Moldauer. In convincing fashion at the 2010 JO Nationals, Moldauer, a three-year Level 9, captured national titles in the All-Around and on parallel bars. Coached by the Artemev family (Vladimir, Irina Bendassova and Sasha), Moldauer is a 2-year member of the Junior National Team (Level 9) and is now training hard for his upcoming debut as a Level 10.
According to Yul's dad, Shaw, he had an atypical early aptitude for gymnastics. At 18 months, Yul rode his little [...more]
USA Gymnastics hosted a media tele-conference this morning featuring Jonathan Horton, Chris Brooks and Danell Leyva. The 45-minute conference offered the first soundbites from prominent gymnasts about Paul Hamm's comeback announcement. Horton and Brooks had nothing but glowing things to say about Hamm, and they expressed a lot of excitement about the [...more]
High-scoring Jesse Silverstein picked up where he left off at May's JO Nationals by winning the final qualifier (88.10) for the 2010 VISA U.S. Championships. He also racked up the most points (96) as he posted the day's top score on rings (14.75) and had top-5 scores on parallel bars (15.05), vault (15.85) and high bar (14.25). Danell Leyva placed 2nd in the AA (87.70), while fellow Senior Team member Alex Buscaglia placed 4th (86.30) and compiled the second highest [...more]
New Hope Gymnastics in Fountain Valley, CA has produced many of the top men's collegiate gymnasts, including current standouts Bryan Del Castillo (Cal) and Yoshi Mori (Illinois). Head Coach Guonian Wu has several more in the pipeline, with Nick Spiro leading the way. Spiro is a current member of the Junior National Team and is a rising star who recently won the All-Around title (84.10) against a very tough field at the Region 1 championships. Here are some of Spiro's major accomplishments: [...more]
USA Gymnastics recently posted the VISA USA Men's Qualifier participant list, and it is quite impressive. Predictably, the list for the Senior Division is especially outstanding. Heading that list are Sasha Artemev, Joey Hagerty, Danell Leyva, Alexy Bilozertchev, Thomas Kelley, Wes Haagensen, Ryan Lieberman, Josh Dixon, Alex Buscaglia, Aaron Fortunato, Phil Onorato, Kyson Bunthuwong, Bryan Del Castillo, CJ Maestas, Daniel Ribeiro and Jesse Silverstein. Current Level 10 (14-15) Junior National Team member Jacob Dastrup is also [...more]
Gymnastics fans are starting to come through. Cal's men's gymnastics program needs help now, like no other time. A Facebook fan site has been created by Cal gymnast Daniel Geri, and a donations site is up and running. While supposedly nothing definitive has been planned by the school, Cal officials make it no secret that several programs are on the chopping block, and that Title IX must be factored into the equation. This is a no-brainer, folks. If we want to keep men's gymnastics alive, [...more]
For the third time in the last four seasons, the SCATS Men's Gymnastics program (in Huntington Beach, CA) has produced a national champion. Last month, Sam Mikulak earned the Level 10 (16-18) all-around gold in a hard fought battle against Jesse Silverstein. Mikulak's exploits were key to helping SCATS win the Level 10 national team championship as well. In 2008, current Cal All-American and SCATS alumnus Glen Ishino won the Level 10 (16-18) all-around title at JO Nationals. And Mikulak's first national championship came in [...more]
Coming off the heels of the Pacific Rim Championships, the USA is showing the world how much depth they have in men's gymnastics. The U.S. men won 3 medals at the Moscow Stars World Cup event last weekend. Oklahoma freshman and 2010 NCAA All-American Alex Naddour took the silver medal on pommel horse (15.075). Illinois All-American junior Paul Ruggeri earned the bronze on [...more]
Next year, the 2011 Men's JO Nationals are going to be held in Long Beach, CA. This is a great thing, since JOs haven't been held west of Oklahoma City since 2004. California is a hotbed for men's gymnastics, and the fact that Region 1 won five individual event titles, an AA title, a regional team title and a club team title last weekend in Knoxville proves that out.
The 2011 JO Nationals represent a great opportunity to generate some more much-needed interest [...more]
