Sam Mikulak and Jesse Silverstein put on another show for the ages in today’s Level 10 (16-18) All-Around finals.  After Thursday night’s showcase, we figured that would be hard to top.  Well, they did it again.  With four events in the books, a mere five tenths of a point separated the two.  Both gymnasts set things up nicely by nailing their fifth events.  Silverstein’s outstanding 15.50 on rings was countered by Mikulak’s explosive 16.75 on vault.  Leading by 1.45 going into the final rotation, Mikulak undoubtedly knew he needed to do something special on parallel bars to have a shot at winning.  After all, Silverstein was ending on vault, which is a high scoring event for him.  If he had duplicated what he did on Thursday (16.45), the championship was his.  Alas, he scored a 15.80, which was still good enough to win, but all he could do was wait things out.  Mikulak scored 14.25 on Thursday, so he needed 14.45 for a tie.  Knowing the title was on the line, he attacked the bars with a vengeance and came up with a 15.00 to seal the victory.

It was two days of virtually perfect gymnastics.  Both gymnasts not only hit twelve events over two days, but also executed them nearly flawlessly.  Mikulak’s second-day score of 91.55 and Silverstein’s 91.00 are the highest ever JO Nationals all-around scores under the present scoring system.  Both gymnasts qualified on all six events for tomorrow’s Event Finals, and both placed in the top five on each event.  Silverstein posted the highest scores on floor (31.45) and rings (31.00), while Mikulak’s final vault tally (33.15) was untouchable.

Stanford-bound Chris Turner (174.55) took the 3rd spot, while Wyatt Aycock (171.35) and Colton Wulf (171.30) completed the top five.  Turner had the top scores on parallel bars (29.30).  In his first JO Nationals competition since 2008, former National Team member Jacoby Rubin bounced back to end up in 7th place (170.55).

This was the third time in the last four seasons that a gymnast from SCATS won a national championship.  In 2008, Cal’s All-American Glen Ishino won the All-Around title.  The previous year, Ishino was edged out by Michigan’s All-American Thomas Kelley (Mikulak’s future teammate) for the title.  Mikulak won the Level 9 title in 2007.  Tomorrow night Mikulak, coached by Grigor Chalikyan and Albert Avchian, will be awarded the coveted Mas Watanabe Award as the Level 10 (16-18) All-Around champion.  Sam deserves it, and we congratulate him for an outstanding club gymnastics career.

Top 5

1.    Sam Mikulak (SCATS) – 181.45
2.    Jesse Silverstein (U.S. Gym Dev.) – 180.80
3.    Chris Turner (WCOGA) – 174.55
4.    Wyatt Aycock (Orlando Metro) – 171.35
5.    Colton Wulf (5280) – 171.30

Orlando Metro’s Jake Martin put together two solid days of gymnastics to win the 14-15 division all-around title.  His two-day score of 177.60 edged out teammate Sean Melton (176.70).  In a weekend of reckoning, the M&M Boys put on a performance similar to their older counterparts; people are starting to take notice of the boys from Orlando.  Quite simply, they smoked the field.  Martin qualified for Event Finals on every event except for parallel bars, and he far outdistanced everybody with his two-day total on high bar (29.80).  Melton qualified on four events (FX, PH, PB, HB) and posted the highest scores on floor (30.40).  Rounding out the top five were Stacey Ervin (Mills-173.85), Adrian De Los Angeles (SCATS-173.35) and Jonathan Deaton (Daggett’s-170.80).  Ervin and De Los Angeles each qualified on four events and were the top qualifiers on vault and pommel horse, respectively.

Top 5

1.    Jake Martin (Orlando Metro) – 177.60
2.    Sean Melton (Orlando Metro) – 176.70
3.    Stacey Ervin (Mills) – 173.85
4.    Adrian De Los Angeles (SCATS) – 173.35
5.    Jonathan Deaton (Daggett’s) – 170.80

In the Level 9 competition, the third "M" of the day, Yul Moldauer, easily won the All-Around title (166.10) over Marty Strech (163.60).  Strech, who started the day in 8th place 4.05 points behind, mounted a serious comeback, but fell short by 2.5 points.  He came into the meet as the overwhelming favorite, after posting the nation’s highest Level 9 scores throughout the season.  It was a testament to Moldauer, who trains at 5280 (the home of Sasha Artemev), that he put together two outstandingly consistent days and ended up with his season-high scores.  All six of Moldauer’s scores were in the top ten, and he had the second highest scores on floor (28.15) and pommel horse (28.05).  Strech ended up with the top scores on rings (27.85).

Marvin Kimble, Colin Van Wicklen and David Jessen completed the top five positions.  Kimble was the top pommel horse performer (28.10), Van Wicklen was best on vault (31.45) and Jessen posted the highest scores on parallel bars (28.45) and high bar (26.95).

Top 5

1.    Yul Moldauer (5280) – 166.10
2.    Marty Strech (Azarian) – 163.60
3.    Marvin Kimble (Swiss Turners) – 163.40
4.    Colin Van Wicklen (Cypress) – 163.35
5.    David Jessen (RISE) – 162.75

Tonight we alphabetize starting with M for Mikulak, Martin and Moldauer.  Congratulations, guys.

Complete results here

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