Paul Hamm has rocked the men's gymnastics community by announcing that he is back to training full time with aspirations of making the 2012 Olympic Team. While he definitely kept the door open to a potential return to the sport, his announcement will likely send shockwaves to our current crop of Olympic hopefuls. If his comeback is successful, Hamm will be America's only gymnast capable of scoring [...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]
We've been hearing rumblings about the possible demise of the Cal Men's Gymnastics program. Even the women's program is also presumedly on the chopping block. In light of all the budget cuts and the state's overall fiscal degradation, both programs' subsidization is ruffling the tender feathers of the more militant, sports-averse members of the school's faculty. Apparently Cal's athletic department racked up a $1.7 million deficit this past year and received a loan from the school's general fund. We've heard that the guillotine is poised over [...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]
Today's Event Finals concluded the 2010 Men's JO Nationals. The big winners were Sam Mikulak and Colin Van Wicklen, who each won two individual event titles. Mikulak posted the day's highest score on floor (15.65) and vault (16.70). Van Wicklen as well won titles on floor (14.50) and vault (16.00). Level 10 (14-15) All-Around champion Jake Martin took [...more]
