Melbourne, Australia, May 1, 2010 – The U.S. men won 15 medals – six gold, four silver and five bronze – in the senior and junior individual event finals at the 2010 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships at the Hisense Arena in Melbourne, Australia. The USA’s gold-medalists were Chris Cameron of Winter Haven, Fla., Danell Leyva of Miami, C.J. Maestas of Corrales, N.M. and John Orozco of the Bronx, N.Y. China had the second highest individual event medal total at nine. Competition concludes on May 2 with the women’s junior and senior individual event finals.

In the senior competition, Leyva, who trains at Universal, won two gold medals (parallel bars and horizontal bar), along with the still rings bronze. Cameron, who trains at the University of Michigan, captured the pommel horse title, along with the floor exercise silver. Steven Legendre of Flower Mound, Texas/University of Oklahoma, was the floor bronze medalist.

For the juniors, Maestas of Gold Cup Gymnastics took top honors on both still rings and pommel horse, as well as the third on parallel bars. Orozoco of World Cup Gymnastics, who won the junior all-around title earlier in the tournament, was the horizontal bar gold medalist and the silver medalist on pommel horse, still rings and parallel bars. Dylan Akers of Houston/Cypress Gymnastics claimed two bronze medals, vault and horizontal bar.

Cameron bested China’s Leyang Zhang for the senior pommel horse gold, 14.775 to 14.425. China’s Ronbgbing Liu was third at 14.375. On floor, Cameron and Legendre finished second and third, respectively, with a 15.200 and 15.050. China’s Yuguo Huang, who also won the vault competition, took the floor title with his 15.600.

Leyva edged out two Chinese gymnasts to win titles on both parallel bars and horizontal bar. He outscored Huang, 15.175 to 15.150, for the top spot on parallel bard, and Canada’s Nathan Gafuik finished third at 14.800. In the high bar final, Leyva posted a 15.050 to best Ronbgbing Liu, who scored a 14.925. Australia’s Luke Wiwatowski rounded out the top three. The still rings gold went to Australia’s Sam Offord at 15.225, with Hong Kong’s Kiu Chung Ng second at 14.950 and Leyva third at 14.775.

In the junior competition, Maestas and Orozoco went one-two on pommel horse and still rings. Maestas earned the pommel horse with 14.350, followed by Orozco at 14.150 and Australia’s Jack Richards at 13.700. On rings, Maestas posted a 14.725 and Orozco recorded a 14.425. Russia’s Sergey Karachkin was third at 13.825.

Orozco easily won the horizontal bar title with his 14.725. Australia’s Tyson Bull was second at 13.625, and Akers placed third at 13.575. On parallel bars, Orozco’s 14.250 put him behind China’s Shixiong Zhou’s 14.400, and Maestas earned a 14.175 for the bronze. Akers claimed his second bronze on vault with a 15.325.

The remaining junior individual event gold medalists were: floor, China’s Shixiong Zhu; and vault, Jaylan Birl, Canada.

Earlier in the competition, the U.S. men and women won both team titles. Orozco claimed the men’s junior all-around title, and the U.S. women went one-two in the senior and junior all-around competition: Rebecca Bross of Plano, Texas/WOGA, won the senior title, with Alexandra Raisman of Needham, Mass./Brestyan’s in second; and Jordyn Wieber of DeWitt, Mich./Twistars USA, earned the junior all-around title, with Kyla Ross of Aliso Viejo, Calif./Gym-Max, the silver medalist.

Competition wraps up on May 2 with women’s junior and senior individual event finals at 2 p.m. in Melbourne. The individual event finals feature the top eight juniors and eight seniors on each apparatus. NOTE: All times are local to Melbourne, which is 14 hours ahead of New York, N.Y. For example, when it is 1 a.m. on Wednesday in Melbourne, it is 11 a.m. on Tuesday in New York.

2010 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships
Melbourne, Australia
May 1, 2010
Men’s individual event finals

Senior competition

Floor exercise
1. Yuguo Huang, China, 15.600
2. Chris Cameron, Winter Haven, Fla./University of Michigan, 15.200
3. Steven Legendre, Flower Mound, Texas/University of Oklahoma, 15.050

Pommel horse
1. Chris Cameron, Winter Haven, Fla./University of Michigan, 14.775
2. Leyang Zhang, China, 14.425
3. Ronbgbing Liu, China, 14.375

Still rings
1. Sam Offord, Australia, 15.225
2. Kiu Chung Ng, Hong Kong, 14.950
3. Danell Leyva, Miami/Universal Sports, 14.775

Vault
1. Yuguo Huang, China, 16.050 avg
2. Nathan Gafuik, Canada, 15.725 avg
3. Wai Hung Shek, Hong Kong, 15.662 avg

Parallel bars
1. Danell Leyva, Miami/Universal Sports, 15.175
2. Yuguo Huang , China, 15.150
3. Nathan Gafuik, Canada, 14.800

Horizontal bar
1. Danell Leyva, Miami/Universal Sports 15.050
2. Ronbgbing Liu , China, 14.925
3. Luke Wiwatowski, Australia, 14.575

Junior competition

Floor exercise
1. Shixiong Zhu, China, 14.575
2. Xiaodong Zhu, China, 14.5
3. Alex Ruzhitskiy, Russia, 13.8

Pommel horse
1. C.J. Maestas, Corrales, N.M./Gold Cup Gymnastics, 14.350
2. John Orozco, Bronx, N.Y./World Cup Gymnastics, 14.150
3. Jack Richards, Australia, 13.700

Still rings
1. C.J. Maestas, Corrales, N.M./Gold Cup Gymnastics, 14.725
2. John Orozco, Bronx, N.Y./World Cup Gymnastics, 14.425
3. Sergey Karachkin, Russia, 13.825

Vault
1. Jaylan Birl, Canada, 15.950
2. Shixiong Zhou, China, 15.875
3. Dylan Akers, Houston/Cypress Gymnastics 15.325

Parallel bars
1. Shixiong Zhou, China, 14.400
2. John Orozco, Bronx, N.Y./World Cup Gymnastics, 14.250
3. C.J. Maestas, Corrales, N.M./Gold Cup Gymnastics, 14.175

Horizontal bar
1. John Orozco, Bronx, N.Y./World Cup Gymnastics, 14.725
2. Tyson Bull, Australia, 13.625
3. Dylan Akers, Houston/Cypress Gymnastics, 13.575