2009 Men’s JO Nationals: Day 3 All-Around Finals

Posted on 09 May 2009 by admin

The All-Around Finals took place on day 3 of the competition in Cincinnati. In the morning session, World Cup’s John Orozco outlasted a very strong field. He was the only competitor to qualify for all six events in tomorrow’s Event Finals. Orozco was also the top qualifier in three of the events: vault, parallel bars and high bar.

SCATS’ Sam Mikulak finished behind Orozco, and qualified in all events except for floor. Mikulak was the top event qualifier on rings. Seven points separated second from third place, while only 4.5 points separated third and tenth place. To put things into perspective, Orozco and Mikulak dominated the competition and clearly cemented their status alongside the nation’s elite gymnasts.

Clearly, there are a lot of strong gymnasts in this age group. Our nation’s pipeline of future collegiate competitors and potential future Olympians is looking quite good right now.

Once again, SCATS had three of the top five All-Arounders with Adrian De Los Angeles and Jesse Glenn taking third and fourth place, respectively. Metropolitan’s Konner Ackerman rounded out the top five.

TOP LEVEL 10 (14-15) ALL-AROUND FINISHERS

John Orozco (World Cup) - 180.50
Sam Mikulak (SCATS) - 177.30
Adrian De Los Angeles (SCATS) - 170.20
Jesse Glenn (SCATS) - 168.65
Konner Ackerman (Metropolitan) - 167.85
Trevor Howard (Hocking Valley) - 167.45
Jake Martin (Orlando Metro) - 167.25
Dominic Morris (Black Hills) - 166.30
Alex Strait (Champion) - 165.50
Sean Senters (Parkettes) - 165.45

In the day’s second session, the Level 10 (16-18) division was full of excitement. Arizona Flairs’ Alex Naddour withstood furious rallies by Gym Nevada’s Jake Dalton and New Hope’s Yoshi Mori to claim the All-Around title. Dalton and Mori posted the highest scores of the session (tied at 89.20), to capture the next two spots. Gold Cup’s CJ Maestas and Cypress’ Chris Stehl rounded out the top five.

Naddour, Dalton and Stehl, all bound for Oklahoma in the fall, captured three of the top five spots. OU Coach Mark Williams must be drooling in anticipation of their arrival. Dalton once again was the top event qualifier on floor and vault, while Stehl was the top qualifier on parallel bars.

Dalton, Naddour and Mori each qualified on four events at tomorrow’s event finals. Dalton didn’t disappoint today on one of his signature events, vault (16.75), where he posted the highest score of the meet.

The top 18 from each Level 10 age division qualify to compete at the 2009 VISA Championships to be held August 12-15 in Dallas, TX. The top seven finishers in each age division at VISAs will comprise the Junior National Team.

TOP LEVEL 10 (16-18) ALL-AROUND FINISHERS

Alex Naddour (AZ Flairs) - 178.10
Jake Dalton (Gym Nevada) - 177.25
Yoshi Mori (New Hope) - 177.15
CJ Maestas (Gold Cup) - 176.40
Chris Stehl (Cypress) - 175.70
Dylan Akers (Cypress) - 174.40
Josh Wokurka (Bartlett) - 173.80
Edward Mesa (Universal) - 173.55
Jesse Silverstein (US Dev) - 173.30
Chris Turner (WCOGA) - 173.05

The Level 9 All-Around competition ended up being a pretty tight affair as Xtreme’s Allan Bower (167.70) came from behind to defeat Orlando Metro’s Sean Melton (166.95). Melton had a .40 lead going into the finals, but suffered a miscue on high bar that sealed his fate. So last year’s level 9 AA champ, Melton, traded places with last year’s runner-up, Bower.

South Coast’s Timmy Wang finished just a half point behind Melton to finish third. Not very much separated the fourth and fifth place finishers, Arete’s Jacob Dastrup (164.35) and Swiss Turners’ Dmitri Belanovski (164.30).

Bower and Melton each qualified for five events in tomorrow’s event finals. Melton was the top qualifier on floor and rings, while Wang had the top scores on pommel horse and vault.

TOP LEVEL 9 ALL-AROUND FINISHERS