LAS VEGAS, Nev., Feb. 5, 2006 – David Durante of Garwood, N.J., won his second straight Winter Cup Challenge all-around title, edging out Jonathan Horton of Houston by just two-tenths of a point. Team Chevron’s Durante had a two-day all-around total of 177.700 for the annual event held at Las Vegas’Sports Center Arena, which concluded on Feb. 4. Durante also won the parallel bars title.

The individual apparatus champions for the Winter Cup are: floor exercise, Michael Reavis, Tallahassee, Fla./University of Iowa; pommel horse, Alexander Artemev of Morrison, Colo./Team Chevron; still rings, Kevin Tan of Fremont, Calif./Team Chevron; vault, Jimmy Wickham of Gulfport, Miss./Ohio State University; parallel bars, Durante; and horizontal bar, Yewki Tomita of Tucson, Ariz./Team Chevron. All champions were determined by sum of both days of competition. The first day of competition was held Feb. 2.

Durante led the all-around going into the final day of competition, starting with an 89.550. His second day 88.150 was enough to hold on to the lead and clinch the title. Horton’s 89.150 on the second day of competition pulled him to second place overall. Guillermo Alvarez of Blackfoot, Idaho, posted the highest all-around score for the second day of competition with an 89.350. Combined with his first day score of 87.500, Team Chevron’s Alvarez finished in third place in the all-around overall. Team Chevron’s Brett McClure of Mill Creek, Wash., and Stanford University’s David Sender of Arlington Heights, Ill., tied for fourth, with Reavis rounding out the top six.

The Winter Cup is the first U.S. men’s competition to use the sport’s NEW SCORING SYSTEM. The new scoring system incorporates credit for the routine’s content and execution, and a gymnast’s score no longer is limited to a maximum of 10.

USA Gymnastics will announce the 14 members of it Senior National Team later this week. Based on the competition’s results, the top six from the all-around finals automatically qualify for the 2006 senior national team. Six more gymnasts will qualify based on a points system established by the Men’s Program Committee, which will select the remaining two gymnasts.

2006 Winter Cup Challenge

Top six by event

All-around
1. David Durante, Garwood, N.J./Team Chevron, 177.700
2. Jonathan Horton, Houston, Texas/University of Oklahoma, 177.500
3. Guillermo Alvarez, Blackfoot, Idaho/Team Chevron, 176.700
4T. Brett McClure, Mill Creek, Wash./Team Chevron, 173.900
4T. David Sender, Arlington Heights, Ill./Stanford University, 173.900
6. Michael Reavis, Tallahassee, Fla./University of Iowa, 172.300

Floor exercise
1, Michael Reavis, U. Iowa, 30.200
2, Dylan Carney, Stanford, 30.150
3, Jonathan Horton, U. Oklahoma, 30.050
4, Jimmy Wickham, Ohio State, 29.950
5, Guillermo Alvarez, Team Chevron, 29.850
6, Yewki Tomita, Team Chevron, 29.500

Pommel horse
1, Alexander Artemev, Team Chevron, 29.650
2, Curtis Kleffman, U. Iowa, 29.100
3, Tim McNeill, UC Berkeley, 29.000
4, Guillermo Alvarez, Team Chevron, 28.850
5, Kevin Tan, Team Chevron, 28.700
6, David Durante, Team Chevron, 28.550

Still rings
1, Kevin Tan, Team Chevron, 31.350
2, Sean Golden, Team Chevron, 30.700
3, Jonathan Horton, U. Oklahoma, 30.550
4, Alex Schorsch, Stanford, 30.400
5, David Sender, Stanford, 29.300
6, Jamie Henderson, U. Oklahoma, 29.250

Vault
1, Jimmy Wickham, Ohio State, 32.450
2, Sean Golden, Team Chevron, 31.800
3, Steven Legendre, WOGA, 31.150
4, Thomas Kelley, Buffalo Grove, 30.575

Parallel bars
1, David Durante, Team Chevron, 30.450
2, Yewki Tomita, Team Chevron, 30.200
3, Jason Gatson, Team Chevron, 30.050
4, Alexander Artemev, Team Chevron, 29.850
5, Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons, U. Oklahoma, 29.550
6, Adam Pummer, U. Illinois, 29.450

Horizontal bar
1, Yewki Tomita, Team Chevron, 31.150
2, Brett McClure, Team Chevron, 30.800
3, Jonathan Horton, U. Oklahoma, 30.350
4, David Durante, Team Chevron, 29.450
5, Gerry Signorelli, U. Michigan, 29.100
6, Kyson Bunthuwong, UC Berkeley, 29.000