Danell Leyva followed up his Day 1 performance (92.50) with an equally outstanding one in the finale (91.30) as he coasted to his first Senior U.S. Men’s Gymnastics all-around title.  Leyva hit 12 for 12 as he bested his World teammate Jonathan Horton by 2.75 points.  Horton kept it close until he fell doing a Cassina on high bar.  Leyva is now arguably America’s premier gymnast, and still has room for growth.  Also packing his bags for the Tokyo World Championships will be young John Orozco, who placed a solid third (3.3 points behind).  He also hit 12 for 12 and proved that he belongs on the world stage.

Adrian de los Angeles followed up his JO Nationals title with yet another one in St. Paul.  De los Angeles actually competed in the day’s early session and had to wait several hours to find out if his second-day score (84.65) held up.  Going into the last event in the evening session, Jonathan Deaton, Jesse Glenn, Jake Martin and Max Mayr each had a great shot of overtaking de los Angeles for the title.  Deaton came the closest as he notched a brilliant 14.85 FX routine to come within a tenth of a point of tying.  It was a very exciting finish, as the Junior (16-18) championship could have been won by any of these five.  Congrats to SCATS’ Coach Grigor Chalikyan for having two gymnasts finish in the top three, and he had a third gymnast, Kanji Oyama, place 12th.

Sean Melton also backed up his JO Nationals title by easily outlasting an impressive young field in the 14-15 division.  Additionally, Melton won event titles on PH, SR and PB.  In somewhat of a repeat of JOs, Timmy Wang, Akash Modi and Marvin Kimble again placed in the top 5.  Wang and Modi won event titles on HB and FX, respectively.  Melton has two years of junior eligibility left, and will definitely be one of the favorites to win national titles next year in the 16-18 division.

This was a very memorable U.S. Championship, especially with so much at stake.  The Olympics are less than a year away, and we’re going to have new blood representing the U.S. at the World Championships in Tokyo.  The selection process over the next several months will be agonizing, and the competition for the scant five Olympic slots will be incredibly fierce.  The future for U.S. men’s gymnastics is very encouraging.

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