Last week was the start of the early signing period for men’s club gymnasts eager to commit to Division I programs for the 2010-2011 season.  Most signees have not been officially announced, but so far, Illinois has landed two of the top recruits.  Today, the Illini announced the signing of Gold Cup’s CJ Maestas and Zenith’s Cameron Rogers.  Maestas placed 4th AA at the 2009 JO Nationals and finished 21st in the AA at VISAs, competing in the senior division.  He also did very well at the recent Junior PanAm Games where he won gold on rings and grabbed silver in the AA, pommel horse and parallel bars.  Rogers won the 16-18 AA title at VISAs.  Both of these fine gymnasts are legitimate all-arounders and will make an immediate contribution for Coach Justin Spring.  Rumor has it that New Hope’s Yoshi Mori will enroll at Illinois in January.  Mori is yet another brilliant all-arounder who will contribute right away.

Stanford reported the signing of Parkettes’ Sean Senters.  He was a top 10 AA finisher at JOs and placed 2nd on floor.  Other signees include Matt Frey (Minnesota) and Lance Alberhasky (Iowa).  Another unofficial signee is New Hope’s Matt Del Junco, who reportedly signed with Cal.  Del Junco is a former Junior National Team member and finished 14th AA at VISAs.  He will be joining his former New Hope teammates, brother Michael and Bryan Del Castillo.  Michigan apparently has signed two huge recruits from the west coast, but the Wolverines have not yet made an official announcement.

Here is a list of freshman who will be making their collegiate debuts this upcoming season:

Stanford

• James Fosco
• Paul Hichwa
• Eddie Penev
• Jason Stevens

Cal

• Donathon Bailey (Azarian)
• Steve Lacombe (Azarian)
• Jeffrey Langenstein (San Mateo)
• Dennis Mannhart (Swiss Turners)
• Christian Monteclaro (WCOGA)
• Jean-Nathan Monteclaro (WCOGA)

Oklahoma

• Jake Dalton (Gym Nevada)
• Alex Naddour (AZ Flairs)
• Chris Stehl (Cypress)

Michigan

• Garret Hamers
• Monk Seaman
• Rohan Sebastian

Penn State

• Matt Chelberg (Hocking Valley)
• MacKenzie Dow (Surgents Elite)
• Parker Racque (Champion)
• Tony Beck
• Matthew Flowers
• Nick Grant
• Nihir Kothari
• Scott Rosenthal
• Francisco Vasquez

Minnesota

• Josh Wokurka (Bartlett)
• Jesse Moravec (Great Northern)
• Harris Coleman (Sun Country)
• Steve Lippoli (Hocking Valley)

Illinois

• Malcolm Brown

Ohio State

• Sean Reilly (Azarian)
• CJ Weir
• John Laing
• Brady Lievens
• Blaze Monks
• Neil Zyburt
• Brandt Gomez
• Elliott Hardy

UIC

• Kyle Voissem (Swiss Turners)
• David Ishida (Technique)
• Nic Grantham
• Andree Gatorano
• Justin Maxwell (Technique)
• Bryan Pusateri
• Mateusz Rybarski
• Gary Soper
• Dan Zerbel

Nebraska

• Michael Heredia
• Ben Hall
• Cliff Kohut
• Mark Ringle
• Gabrielle Sanchez
• Baier Wyatt

Iowa

• Anton Gryshayev (5280)
• Todd Becker
• Timm Krueger
• Jack McClay
• Broderick Shemansky (California Sports)

China claimed the gold on three out of six events at the DTB Cup held this past weekend in Stuttgart.  The U.S. had two gymnasts qualify for event finals, Chris Cameron and Wes Haagensen.  Cameron place 7th on pommel horse, while Haagensen took 4th on rings and 5th on parallel bars.  Meanwhile, Russia’s Maxim Devyatovsky claimed his second straight Champions Cup over Germany’s Fabian Hambuchen.  USA’s Joey Hagerty ended up in 3rd place in the four-meet series.  Due to injury, Hambuchen missed the 3rd leg, otherwise he would have ended up driving home the Mercedes SLK.

The 2009 Future Stars National Championships were held last Friday at the USOTC in Colorado Springs.  The competition was fierce in all three age groups.  In the 10-year-old division, Davis Grooms (Champion) outlasted Nikita Bolotsky (Vitaly Scherbo) 90.950-90.550.  Connor Lewis (Integrity) edged out Favian Valdez (Orlando Metro) 90.60-90.05 in the 11-year-old division, and Michael Burns (Hocking Valley) locked up the 12-year-old title 86.65-83.25.  The top 18 in both the 10 and 11 age group and the top 14 in the 12-year-old division comprise the Future Stars Developmental Team.

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