Men’s Team Selection Competition Field also includes five with Colorado ties

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Todd Thornton of Pearland, Texas, the all-around champion at the 2005 Visa Championships, heads the roster of participants for the 2005 World Gymnastics Championships Men’s Team Selection Competition on Oct. 14 and 16 at 1 p.m. at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC). The field includes 19 of the country’s best male gymnasts vying for the six-man team that will compete in the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
Thornton, who competes for Team Chevron, automatically qualified for the World Championships Team when he won the 2005 Visa Championships. Admission is free for the two-day competition in Colorado Springs that is the basis of selection for the remainder of the men’s team for the 2005 World Championships, Nov. 21-27 in Melbourne.
The format for this year’s World Championships features all-around and individual event competition. Because of the emphasis on individual events, the Men’s Selection Committee will use the results of the two-day meet to name the remaining five members of the men’s team for the World Championships, as well as designate which athletes will compete in which events. The 2005 U.S. Men’s World Championships Team will be announced on Oct. 17.
Five competitors in the field have ties to Colorado. Guillermo Alvarez, who hails from Denver, Colo./Team Chevron, won the floor exercise at the 2005 Visa Championships. Four others train at the USOTC: David Durante of Garwood, N.J./Team Chevron, who was third in the Visa Championships’ all-around; Jason Gatson of Mesa, Ariz./Team Chevron, who was a member of the 2004 Olympic silver-medal team; Joseph Hagerty of Albuquerque, N.M./Team Chevron, who was fourth in the all-around at the 2005 Visa Championships; and Yewki Tomita of Tucson, Ariz./Team Chevron, who won the pommel horse at the 2005 VISA CHAMPIONSHIPS.
Other top-ranked gymnasts expected to compete are: Raj Bhavsar of Houston/Team Chevron, the alternate for the 2004 U.S. Men’s Olympic Gymnastics Team; Sean Golden of Houston/Houston Gymnastics Academy, who won the still rings and vault at the 2005 Visa Championships; D.J. Bucher of Mason, Ohio/Ohio State University, who won the parallel bars at the 2005 Visa Championships; David Sender of Arlington Heights, Ill./Stanford University, who was second in the all-around, floor exercise and vault at the 2005 Visa Championships; and Justin Spring of Champaign, Ill./University of Illinois, who won the horizontal bar at the 2005 Visa Championships. Thornton, who trains at the Houston Gymnastics Academy, also placed third on the pommel horse and tied for third on the horizontal bar and floor exercise at the 2005 Visa Championships. A complete roster is listed below.

Roster for the 2005 World Championships Team Selection Event

(By state; shows club and home town)

Arizona

Jason Gatson, Team Chevron – USOTC, Mesa, Ariz.
Yewki Tomita, USOTC, Tucson, Ariz.

California

Sho Nakamori, Stanford University, Albany, Calif.
Kevin Tan, Penn State University, Fremont, Calif., 9.350

Colorado

Guillermo Alvarez, Team Chevron – Gopher Gymnastics, Denver, Colo.

Florida

Colin Christ, UC Berkeley, Palm Harbor, Fla.

Illinois

David Sender, Stanford University, Arlington Heights, Ill.
Justin Spring, University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill.

New Jersey

David Durante, Team Chevron – USOTC, Garwood, N.J.

New Mexico

Joseph Hagerty, Team Chevron – USOTC, Albuquerque, N.M.

Minnesota

Clay Strother, Gopher Gymnastics, Minneapolis, Minn.

Ohio

DJ Bucher, Ohio State University, Mason, Ohio
Randy Monahan, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Texas

Raj Bhavsar, Team Chevron – Ohio State University, Houston
Sean Golden, Houston Gymnatics Academy (HGA)/GymMasters, Houston, Texas
Jonathan Horton, University of Oklahoma, Houston
Todd Thornton, Team Chevron – HGA/GymMasters, Pearland, Texas
Sean Townsend, Team Chevron – HGA/GymMasters, Dickinson, Texas

Washington

Jeff Johnson, University of Washington, Seattle