© John Cheng

HARTFORD, Conn., Aug. 11, 2010 – Sean Melton of Orlando, Fla., and Sam Mikulak of Corona del Mar, Calif., won the 14-15 and 16-18 junior men’s U.S. all-around titles, respectively, at the 2010 Visa Championships at the XL Center in Hartford. Melton, who trains at Orlando Metro, had an all-around score of 83.400 to win the 14-15 year-old title. He was followed by Adrian de los Angeles of Long Beach, Calif., with a score of 82.150. Jake Martin of Calabasas, Calif., took third in the all-around with a score of 81.500. De los Angeles trains at SCATS Huntington Beach, and Martin trains with Melton at Orlando Metro.

Melton, who finished second at the Level 10 Junior Olympic Nationals in the 14-15 year old age division, moved into the lead for the first time after the fifth rotation with a Yurchenko double full vault.

Melton said, “It was great. It’s one of the few times I’ve hit everything this year. I’m pleased that all of the hard training paid off. I always finish second to Jake (Martin), we’ve been pushing each other in the gym. Today was the day it finally happened for me.”

Melton won floor exercise and pommel horse with scores of 14.500 and 13.800, respectively. De los Angeles won still rings with a score of 13.900. Stacey Ervin of Taylor Mich./ Mills USA, won vault doing a Kasamatsu full with a score of 15.500. Maximilian Mayr of Miami, Fla./ Universal Gymnastics won the parallel bars event title with a score of 14.250. There was a tie for the horizontal bar title between Martin and Kevin Ko of El Cerrito, Calif./Golden Bear Gymnastics, both scoring a 13.600.

In the 16-18 year-old-division, Mikulak of SCATS Huntington Beach won the title with a score of 86.500. Mikulak, who led the competition from round three, won the 2010 Level 10 16-18 JO Nationals title and was second at last year’s Visa Championships in the 14-15 year-old division. He was followed in the all-around by Jacoby Rubin of Buffalo Grove, Ill./ Buffalo Grove Gymnastics, with a score of 81.050. Wyatt Aycock of Orlando, Fla./ Orlando Metro Gymnastics, finished third with a score of 80.650.

Mikulak said, “I’m most pleased with my pommel horse routine because everyone always says it’s not my strongest event and it was my last event today and I hit and it felt good to win.”

Mikulak also won three event titles, taking pommel horse with a score of 14.150 and horizontal bar with a score of 14.100. He also had a share of the parallel bars title scoring 14.650, tying Champion Gymnastics Academy’s Jordan Valdez of Louisville, Colo. Cale Robinson of Harriman, Tenn./ Premier Athletics, won the floor exercise title with a score of 14.600 and the vault title with a double twisting Yurchenko to score of 15.70. There was a tie for the rings title between Hocking Valley Gymnastics teammates Trevor Howard of Cols, Ohio, and Drew Moling of Canal Winchester, Ohio, both scoring a 13.850.

Casimiro Suarez of Orlando Metro was given the Junior Olympic Coach of the Year award.