EVERETT — One night after the United States women swept the gold medals in team and all-around for seniors and juniors, the U.S. men were nearly as good on Day 2 of the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships at Comcast Arena.
Led by senior all-around champ Chris Brooks and runner-up Sam Mikulak, the American men put on a convincing show to win the team title. The U.S. totaled 352.050 points to finish well ahead of silver medalist Japan (344.700) and bronze medalist China (343.250).
“We’re looking real good,” Mikulak said. “We’re strong, we’re confident, and I know every person on this team is looking for bigger things.” With the 2012 Olympics in London coming up this summer, “hopefully (Team) USA will be able to top China and Japan,” he added.
In the evening’s best drama, Brooks came from second place on the evening’s final rotation, floor exercise, to edge Mikulak for the all-around gold. Brooks had floor score of 14.850 to finish with 88.700 points while Mikulak had a score of 14.550 to finish at 88.650.
Keeping the Americans from sweeping the evening’s gold medals was a 1-2 finish by Japan in the junior division, with Kaito Imabayashi winning gold and Koji Nonomura claiming silver. Akash Modi was the top United States finisher, receiving the bronze medal.
In an evening session that also included Russia, Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand and the Philippines, the United States started on pommel horse where the scores are typically lower. That meant the Americans were playing catch-up right from the start.
But catch up they did. Last in the team competition after the first rotation, the Unites States improved to fourth on the next apparatus (rings) and then jumped to first place after the third (vault), where they stayed the rest of the night.
“We had our problems here and there, even me personally,” Brooks said. “I struggled on vault and (parallel) bars, but we came back together on high bar and floor, and we finished the meet really well. So I’m proud of Team USA.”
“We’re all proud of how we did,” Mikulak agreed. “Our expected goal was to come out and … win, so we’re happy with it.”
Brooks owed his all-around victory to a terrific showing on the high bar. His total of 15.650 on that event was the best of the night, though he still trailed Mikulak by .250 points (74.100-73.850) heading to the final rotation, floor exercise.
“You always want to win, you always want to do well, but it’s all about the team for me,” said Brooks, who is from Houston. “All-around comes secondary, and being right there close to Sam was awesome. I knew he was going to go out and do a great floor set, and all I wanted to do was hit a floor set for the team.
“It turns out that I barely edged him out. I’m happy to be the all-around champion, but I’m even more happy that the team won,” he said.
“I wasn’t really trying for a competition against (Brooks),” said Mikulak, who is from Newport Coast, Calif. “I was just going out there to do my set. … It was just fun to tumble like that and fun to finish 1-2 with Chris.”
Jake Dalton, the third American senior, had an up-and-down night. His pommel horse score of 11.750 ranked in the lower half of scores for that event, but his score in floor exercise (15.600) was the evening’s best and his score in vault (16.100) was fourth overall. Dalton had the fourth-best total score, but his placing did not count because only the top two individuals per team are given places.
Rhythmic gymnastics wrapped up on Saturday with the four event finals. American Julie Zetlin, who has already clinched a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for this summer’s London Games, added to her tally of medals with golds in ribbon and ball. On Friday, Zetlin won the senior all-around title and led the Americans to the team gold.
Polina Kozitskiy of the United States won a gold in hoop and a silver in clubs.
In the junior division, American Julia Garbuz won gold in ball and hoop, and added a bronze in ribbon. Teammate Laura Zeng won gold in ribbon, silvers in clubs and ball, and bronze in hoop.
Updating a Friday night incident, Australian senior gymnast Georgia Simpson suffered an open dislocation of her left ankle (the bone broke through the flesh) during a floor exercise landing. She was taken to an Everett hospital, where she underwent surgery.
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