PORTLAND, Ore., May 5, 2013 – The 2013 Men’s Junior Olympic National Championships concluded today at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Ore., with the crowning of the Levels 8 and 9 champions.

Level 9 team champions were Region III and Cypress Academy. In the Level 9 Junior Elite division, Davis Grooms of Champions grabbed the all-around, still rings and horizontal bar titles. Other individual event title winners were Matthew Wenske of Cypress, floor exercise and vault; Sean Brackenridge of South Coast and Nicholas Merryman of NH-GymVillage, tie, pommel horse; and Cameron Bock of SCATS, parallel bars.

The Level 9 13-year-old Junior Olympic champions were Andrew Eng of Swiss Turners in the all-around and still rings; Bennet Huang of West Coast, floor exercise; Jacob Moore of Twistars, pommel horse; Zachary Peters of InterActive, vault; Ethan Esval of Cobb, parallel bars; and Tristan Lopez of New Hope, high bar.

In the Level 9 Junior Olympic 14-year-old division, the individual title winners were Andrew Brower of U.S. Gym – Mahwah, in the all-around, rings and high bar; Andrew Herrador of West Coast, floor exercise; Brandon Ngai of Byers Elk Grove, pommel horse; Michael Lewis of Sky High, vault; and Carlos Munoz of FGTC, parallel bars.

Region I and WOGA-Frisco claimed the Level 8 regional and club team titles, respectively. Nikita Bolotsky of VSSG won the Junior Elite Level 8 all-around, floor, vault and high bar titles, with the remaining titles going to Brandon Briones of USA Flairs, pommel horse, Troy Jenkins of Black Hills, still rings, and Dylan Hughes of Queen City, parallel bars.

Devin Trinter of KMC and Travis Cooper of WOGA-Frisco tied in the all-around in the Level 8 Junior Olympic 12 year old division. Individual event titles went to Andrew Capobianco of BK, floor; Zion English of West Coast, pommel horse; Brady Yamamoto of Aspire, still rings; Marcus Valiente of Top Flight, vault; Trinter, parallel bars; and Ian Gunther of HGA, high bar.

The individual winners for Junior Olympic Level 8 11 year olds were Devin Smith of USA Flairs in the all-around, floor and pommel horse; Cole Schreiber of Premier West, still rings; Austin Jones of St. Charles, vault; Aidan Cuy of AH-RI, parallel bars; and Daryn Strub of North Shore, high bar.

Metro Gymnastics Center of Tigard, Ore., is the host club for the Junior Olympic Championships. The meet director is David Klein.

To advance to the Junior Olympic National Championships, gymnasts competed in state and regional championships and qualified based on their all-around or multiple-event scores, or through regional allotment.

The U.S. Junior Olympic National Championships is one of the national championships of USA Gymnastics, the sport’s national governing body in the United States. Many Junior Olympic champions have gone on to make the U.S. National Team and represent the United States in international competition and/or to compete in collegiate gymnastics. All of the members of the men’s medal-winning 2004 (silver) and 2008 (bronze) U.S. Olympic Teams, as well as the 2012 Olympic Team, are former Junior Olympic National Championships participants. Past participants include Paul Hamm, 2004 Olympic all-around champion; Jonathan Horton, 2008 Olympic horizontal bar silver medalist and 2010 World all-around bronze medalist; and Danell Leyva, 2012 Olympic all-around bronze medalist.