INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.,  – USA Gymnastics named its 2007 U.S. Men’s Senior National Team following the conclusion of the 2007 Winter Cup Challenge.

The members of the 2007 U.S. Men’s Senior National Team are: Guillermo Alvarez of Denver/Team Chevron; Alexander Artemev of Morrison, Colo./Team Chevron; Raj Bhavsar of Houston/Team Chevron; David Durante of Garwood, N.J./Team Chevron; Sean Golden of Camden, N.J./HGA/GymMasters; Joseph Hagerty of Rio Rancho, N.M./Team Chevron; Jamie Henderson of Crosby, Texas/University of Oklahoma; Jonathan Horton of Houston/University of Oklahoma; Tim McNeill of Falls Church, Va./University of California-Berkeley; David Sender of Arlington Heights, Ill./Stanford University; Justin Spring of Burke, Va./University of Illinois; Clay Strother of Jasper, Texas/Team Chevron; Kevin Tan of Fremont, Calif./Team Chevron; Yewki Tomita of Tuscon, Ariz./Team Chevron; and Sean Townsend of Dickinson, Texas/HGA/GymMasters.

Townsend won the all-around at the 2007 Winter Cup Challenge, followed by Sender and Alvarez in second and third place, respectively. Members of the national team who claimed individual event titles are: Townsend on parallel bars, Sender on vault, Tomita on pommel horse, Tan on still rings and Hagerty on horizontal bar.

All seven members of the 2006 World Championships Team automatically qualified for the U.S. Senior National Team. Based on the national team points system, Hagerty, Tomita and Townsend received automatic berths onto the team from their Winter Cup Challenge results. Bhavsar, Golden, Henderson, McNeill and Spring were selected by the Men’s Program Committee. These 15 gymnasts will comprise the Men’s Senior National Team until the 2007 Visa Championships in August.

2007 U.S. Men’s Senior National Team at a glance

 

  • Guillermo Alvarez of Denver/Team Chevron; 10/24/82; graduate of the University of Minnesota, where he trains with Minnesota Gymnastics; third in the all-around for two consecutive years at Winter Cup Challenge (2006-07); third in the all-around at the 2006 Visa Championships; member of 2006 U.S. World Championships Team; is coached by Mike Burns.
  • Alexander Artemev of Morrison, Colo./Team Chevron; 8/29/85; is coached by his father, Vladimir Artemev, at 5280 Gymnastics; 2006 pommel horse world bronze medalist; 2006 U.S. all-around, pommel horse and parallel bars champion; finished fourth in the pommel horse at the 2006 World Cup in Cottbus, Germany.
  • Bhavsar of Houston/Team Chevron; 9/7/80; trains at HGA with Kevin Mazeika; 2004 graduate of Ohio State University; at the 2007 Winter Cup Challenge, placed third on the still rings; third on the parallel bars at the 2006 Visa Championships; alternate on 2004 U.S. Olympic Team; member of the U.S. Men’s Team that won the silver medal at the 2001 and 2003 World Championships.
  • David Durante of Garwood, N.J./Team Chevron; 6/26/80; trains at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., with Vitaly Marinitch; 2002 graduate of Stanford University; third on pommel horse at 2007 Winter Cup Challenge; third at 2006 Tyson American Cup; tied for third on parallel bars at 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships.
  • Sean Golden of Camden, N.J./HGA/GymMasters; 6/13/83; trains at HGA with Kevin Mazeika; at the Winter Cup Challenge, was second on still rings for two straight years (2006-07); second on the still rings at the 2006 Visa Championships; member of the 2005 World Championships Team.
  • Joseph Hagerty of Rio Rancho, N.M./Team Chevron; 4/19/82; trains at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs with Alex Shchennikov; won horizontal bar at 2007 Winter Cup Challenge; second on the parallel bars and fourth in the all-around at the 2005 Visa Championships.
  • Jamie Henderson of Crosby, Texas/University of Oklahoma; 6/27/84; graduate of Oklahoma; fourth on horizontal bar and fifth on pommel horse at 2007 Winter Cup Challenge; at the 2005 Visa Championships, placed seventh in the all-around and horizontal bar, and eighth on pommel horse; earned All-America honors on the still rings (2003-04, 2006) and pommel horse (2006); is coached by Rustam Sharipov.
  • Jonathan Horton of Houston/University of Oklahoma; 12/31/85; junior at Oklahoma; at the 2007 Winter Cup Challenge, tied for second on floor exercise and tied for fourth on parallel bars; 2006 Tyson American Cup champion; won floor exercise at 2006 Visa Championships; 2006 NCAA all-around, still rings and floor exercise champion; member of the 2006 U.S. World Championships Team; is coached by Mark Williams.
  • Tim McNeill of Falls Church, Va./University of California–Berkeley; 5/5/86; junior at UC Berkeley; at 2007 Winter Cup Challenge, was second on parallel bars and fourth on still rings; won a silver medal on the pommel horse at the 2006 Visa Championships; 2006 NCAA pommel horse champion; All-American on pommel horse and vault as a freshman; is coached by Barry Weiner.
  • David Sender of Arlington Heights, Ill./Stanford University; 8/27/85; junior at Stanford, studying biology; at the 2007 Winter Cup Challenge, won vault and was second in the all-around; 2006 U.S. and NCAA vault champion; member of the 2006 U.S. World Championships Team; tied for second in the floor exercise at the 2006 Visa Championships; placed third on vault at the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships; alternate for the 2005 World Championships Team; is coached by Thom Glielmi.
  • Justin Spring of Burke, Va./University of Illinois; 3/11/84; is an assistant coach for and graduate of the University of Illinois in Champaign; 2006 NCAA horizontal bar and parallel bars champion; was the horizontal bar titlist at the 2005 Visa Championships; tied for second on the horizontal bar at the 2005 American Cup; was the 2005 NCAA parallel bars champion; member of the 2005 U.S. World Championships Team; earned All-America honors 12 times in his collegiate career; is coached by Jon Valdez.
  • Clay Strother of Jasper, Texas/Team Chevron; 10/28/1980; trains at Minnesota Gymnastics and is coached by Russ Fystrom; sixth on parallel bars at 2007 Winter Cup Challenge; tied for second on the floor exercise and was second on vault at the 2006 Visa Championships; member of the 2006 U.S. World Championships Team; graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2003.
  • Kevin Tan of Fremont, Calif./Team Chevron; 9/24/81; is an assistant coach for and graduate of Penn State University; still rings champion at 2007 Winter Cup Challenge; 2006 U.S. still rings champion; was third on the still rings at the 2006 World Cup in Stuttgart, Germany; captain of the U.S. Men’s Team at the 2006 World Championships, as well as a member of the 2005 U.S. World Championships Team; trains with Penn State and is coached by Randy Jepson.
  • Yewki Tomita of Tucson, Ariz./Team Chevron; 3/15/80; trains at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs with Vitaly Marinitch; won pommel horse at the 2007 Winter Cup Challenge, his first competition since shoulder surgery in 2006; was the pommel horse champion at the 2005 Visa Championships; member of the 2005 World Championships Team.
  • Sean Townsend of Dickinson, Texas/HGA/GymMasters; 1/20/79; trains at HGA with Kevin Mazeika; won the all-around and parallel bars at the 2007 Winter Cup Challenge; finished second on the parallel bars at the 2006 Visa Championships; parallel bars world champion in 2001; member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team. <