… Men’s Qualifier in Colorado Springs on Saturday, where he posted an impressive 91.750 to top the field.
… Orozco appears to have rebounded from a difficult showing at the American Cup in March, where he finished a disappointing fifth. In addition to the highest all-around score in Colorado Springs, the 2011 U.S. bronze medalist also finished first on pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar and was top-4 on floor, rings, and vault. It is the 15.150 on pommel horse and his consistency across all six events that make him a near lock for the five-man London Olympic Team.
… The 19-year-old’s biggest domestic competition, Danell Leyva, competed on floor, vault, and parallel bars at the qualifier and was competitive with Orozco on those events – finishing first on vault, second on parallel bars and sixth on floor. …
Pommel horse turnaround propels Illini to national championship by Emily Bayci :
… The Illini had been struggling on the pommel horse all season. They were ranked sixth in the country on pommel horse — lower than any other event. …
… “Pommel horse is not an event you want to count on to have a perfect meet, let alone to make up ground.” …
… To anchor the squad was freshman C.J. Maestas, a strong pommel horse contender who had fallen on high bar and was worried he let his team down.
“I knew I had to hit,” Maestas said. “For my brothers. Here they were having my back, shout-out to the pommel horse squad. They were throwing 15’s. I needed to do it too.”
Hit he did, tallying his own career-high of a 15.100 to propel Illinois to a 60.750, its highest pommel horse score in school history. …
… “The turnaround on pommel horse was the best moment of my entire college career,” said veteran senior Paul Ruggeri …
“This moment has been a long time coming,” Illini head coach Justin Spring said. “I have been a part of the NCAA for 10 years as an athlete, an assistant coach and now a head coach, and every time, I was on a team that had a shot at this thing. For the first time, we pulled it off. …
As is so often the case, the Men’s Collegiate Championships was more unpredictable than the Women’s.
… Down by over 3 points going into the final two rotations, Illinois roared back, on of all things, pommel horse. The Illini blew the doors off their hinges, exceeding their season high on the event by nearly 3 points. …
The Illini posted four of the top seven scores on PH, led by Chad Mason’s 15.30, followed by Cole Smith (15.25), Yoshi Mori (15.10) and Maestas (15.10). …
For Ruggeri, Wednesday night’s winner of the Nissen-Emery Award, he must be thankful for the 5th year of eligibility he was granted after last season’s ankle injury at Winter Cup. The extra year enabled him to win the big prize, a national team title, while the Nissen-Emery was icing on the cake. …
Looking forward to seeing what he brings to European Championships.
GymNiceTic:
Hambüchen says that he won`t compete at Europeans. The Euros don`t fit in his schedule as he is mainly preparing for London. So his next competition will be the national trials for the Olympics in June.
… I would say the past few weeks have been pretty good for Mr. Brooks. His performances at American Cup and PacRim have demonstrated that he is healthy and getting a lot closer to his Olympic dream. Brooks’ improving skills on PH and SR are making people take notice. …
Ono and Clinton are not completely convinced that those routines are strong enough for top 3. Certainly the scores are too high, relative to what they would have scored at Worlds.
On the other hand, consistency over a long series of pressure situations may end up deciding the Team. I like his chances.
If you had Leyva, Orozco and Brooks … who else do you need to have 3 strong routines on each apparatus?
Anderson won his specialty, Horizontal Bar, as well with 6.2 difficulty. He’s one of the next generation of Canadian gymnasts who will be fighting to get on the A Team this cycle.
“This moment has been a long time coming,” Illini head coach Justin Spring said. “I have been a part of the NCAA for 10 years as an athlete, an assistant coach and now a head coach, and every time, I was on a team that had a shot at this thing. For the first time, we pulled it off. …
