The biggest story at yesterday’s Winter Cup preliminary competition was Chris Brooks’ dominating all-around performance.  Brooks (88.30) easily outlasted fellow Oklahoma alum Jonathan Horton (86.50), and also posted the day’s highest scores on vault (16.30) and high bar (15.60).  A total of 43 gymnasts qualified to compete in Saturday night’s finale.

A total of seven club gymnasts made it to the finals:

• CJ Maestas - Gold Cup
• Jesse Silverstein - U.S. Gym. Dev.
• Chris Turner - WCOGA
• Craig Hernandez - Buffalo Grove
• Dylan Akers - Cypress
• John Orozco - World Cup
• Sam Mikulak - SCATS

CJ Maestas and Jesse Silverstein were the top two club qualifiers with 40 and 31 points respectively.  Maestas and Craig Hernandez both cracked the top five on rings (14.8 - 3rd place) and pommel horse (14.65 - 5th place).  Hernandez has a legitimate shot at winning pommel horse if he hits his routine.

Michigan and Illinois both had six gymnasts qualify for the finals.  Oklahoma and Stanford each had four qualifiers.  Once again, USA Gymnastics will provide live scoring for the finals.  USAG also had posted some nice videos from yesterday’s preliminaries.