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PORTLAND, Ore., May 2, 2013 – Region I (seniors), Region III (juniors), and Swiss Turners took the top spots in the Level 10 regional and club team competitions, respectively, on the first day of the 2013 Men’s Junior Olympic National Championships at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.
The Region team score is calculated using the top five scores on each event from both the Junior Olympic and Junior Elite divisions, while the Club team score is calculated using the top three scores on each event from both the Junior Olympic and Junior Elite divisions.
Region I won the senior regional team competition, posting a total score of 427.650. Region V finished second, 423.550, while Region VII rounded out the top three with a score of 418.050. The top athlete scores for Region 1 were: Travis Gollott, 15.050, floor exercise; Drew Willoughby, 13.950, pommel horse; Allan Bower, 14.800, still rings; Alex Powarzynski, 15.300 for vault, and 15.050 for parallel bars; and Yordan Aleksandrov, 14.900, horizontal bar.
En route to the junior regional title, Region III’s high scores on each event were led by Levi Anderson, 14.950 for floor, and 15.000 for horizontal bar; Ryan Sheppard, 14.050, pommel horse; Fabian DeLuna, 15.600, still rings; Jalon Stephens, 15.050, vault; and Hunter Justus, 14.900, parallel bars. Their combined total was 434.950, followed by Region IV, 427.950 and Region I, 421.900.
Swiss Turners (271.450), which won the club title in 2012, bested Cypress Academy (258.600) for the second year in a row. WOGA-Frisco finished in third place, scoring 249.250. Swiss Turners posted the top team total on all six events.
Marvin Kimble of Milwaukee, Wis./Swiss Turners, posted the highest score of the day in the all-around qualification round with his 94.050. Kimble competed in the men’s Level 10 junior (15-16) division, and his teammate Dmitri Belanovski of West Allis, Wis., had the top qualification score in the Level 10 senior (17-18 years) division. The all-around finals for Level 10 are on Saturday.
Levels 8 and 9 get underway tomorrow with three sessions of competition to determine the region team and club champions, as well as qualifiers to Sunday’s finals.
In the Junior Olympic division, the top 24 all-around qualifiers, plus the top 12 individual event qualifiers in each age group, advance to Saturday’s Level 10 and Sunday’s Level 8/9 Junior Olympic Division all-around and individual event finals.
On Saturday, the top 42 Level 10 Junior Elite athletes from each age division compete to determine the Level 10 Junior Elite Division all-around and event champions. The top 42 Level 8 and the top 42 Level 9 Junior Elite athletes compete on Sunday to determine the respective all-around and event champions.
Metro Gymnastics Center of Tigard, Ore., is the host club for the Junior Olympic Championships. The meet director is David Klein.
Tickets may be purchased online. Click here to visit the online box office.
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. For more information on the event, click here.
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.