© John Cheng
INDIANAPOLIS, March 8, 2011 – USA Gymnastics announced the members of the U.S. Men’s National Team who will represent the USA on international assignments this March at the Paris World Cup, Cottbus Challenger Cup, and the Canada/China/USA Tri-meet. The gymnasts were selected by the Men’s Program Committee.
2010 World horizontal bar finalist Danell Leyva of Miami will compete in the FIG World Cup in Paris on March 19-20. Leyva, a member of Team Hilton HHonors who trains at Universal Gymnastics, will be accompanied by his coach, Yin Alvarez. The Paris event is the first individual event competition in this 2011 World Cup season, and participants were selected from apparatus finalists at the World Championships in London, with the best four gymnasts per apparatus advancing to finals competition.
The two athletes participating in the Cottbus Challenger Cup on March 12-13 in Cottbus, Germany are: U.S. Olympic Training Center’s Andrew Elkind of Cherry Hill, N.J./Team Hilton HHonors, and C.J. Maestas of Corrales, N.M. They will be accompanied by their coach Vitaly Marinitch. The Cottbus Challenger Cup is the first competition in the FIG Challenger Cup series.
Elkind will also be part of the four-man team representing the USA in a tri-meet with Canada and China being held in conjunction with the Kyle Shewfelt Gymfest in Calgary, Canada, March 25-26. Joining him will be Dylan Akers of Houston/Cypress Academy; Tyler Mizoguchi of Houston/University of Illinois; and Jesse Silverstein of Suffern, N.Y/US Gymnastics Development Center II. The tri-meet format will be a three-up, three-count team and all-around competition. Coaches for the event will be Tom Meadows and Ivan Ivankov.