1996 Coca-Cola National Gymnastics Championships

Men's Team '96

Visit our Quick Hit page for Men's Team 96 Optionals, June 6, 7:00 pm-10:00 pm, and for Men's Event Finals, June 8, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm.

Results from event finals

Results from the Optional Session


Blaine Wilson, 1st AA

Blaine Wilson, a junior from Ohio State University, seized the all-around title at the 1996 Coca-Cola National Championships, coming from behind to surpass defending champion John Roethlisberger, from University of Minnesota, in the final rotation. Wilson is coached by Peter Kormann, an Olympic bronze medalist ('76) who will be the head coach of the USA Men's team at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. "I wanted to do as well as I possibly could," said Wilson. "This gives me momentum going into the Olympic Trials."


John Roethlisberger, 2nd, AA

The competition proved to be one of the closest in recent years, with Wilson outscoring Roethlisberger 114.80-114.65. "It was a hell of a meet!" said Ron Galimore, USA Gymnastics Men's Program Director. Roethlisberger, who is coached by his father and former Olympian, Fred Roethlisberger, held the lead through the first five rotations, but Wilson had pulled to within .075, entering the final event. "I knew coming into this meet that Blaine Wilson was a heck of a gymnast and was prepared to be on top," remarked Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger was on the parallel bars in the last rotation while Wilson was on rings, which is Wilson's best event. Roethlisberger did well on parallel bars, but a confusing 9.15 score was raised. After a judging error was identified, Roethlisberger's score was corrected to a 9.55.

"Blaine won rings at NCAA's, the Atlanta Gymnastics Invitational, and the American Cup, so he was finishing on his best event. I told him 'This [pressure] is nothing compared to this summer, so just relax and do your routine.'"
--Peter Kormann, Wilson's coach

Wilson, one of the last competitors of the night, lived up to expectations on rings to score an outstanding 9.80, considerably the highest score on that event. "It was the best ring routine I've seen him do," said Kormann. When asked if he was nervous about his rings routine, Wilson replied that he was actually more nervous about his teammate, Kip Simons, who was competing on the parallel bars. "I had a long wait on high bar, so I was sweating real bad on that one, and I got nervous on pommel horse. But I feel pretty comfortable with my rings routine," said Wilson. "I was actually more nervous for Kip, watching him on p-bars, before my routine."

"I'm a little disappointed. You're positioned for these opportunities [to win his fifth national title], and they don't come around often. I think if I didn't feel a little disappointed, there'd be something wrong with me."
--John Roethlisberger, regarding his second place finish.

When asked if he knew what score Wilson needed to win, Roethlisberger was quick to acknowledge that he was watching Wilson's last routine. "I was done for the night. I knew what he needed, and I know what Blaine can do on rings. It was the most helpless feeling. I had to sit back and watch him take it."


John Macready, 3rd AA

The bronze medal went to the USOTC's John Macready. "I felt very good about third place. John and Blaine showed that they are two of the best gymnasts. I'm honored to have them in front of me."

Olympic head coach Peter Kormann is increasingly optimistic of the chances for the USA Men's team in Atlanta. "I was extremely pleased with the level of difficulty tonight. Every time I turned around I was seeing more difficult routines than we had last year. For example, John Roethlisberger learned a 9.8 vault [the highest rating for vaults in men's gymnastics]. That's not easy for him to do; he did it for the team, and I'm real proud." (At this point in the press conference, an uncontainable Roethlisberger erupted with a "YES!" raising his fists in the air.) Kormann stated that the game plan of the men's team would be to go home, train with their personal coaches, and then head to Boston for the Olympic Trials. "In Boston, we'll be a little sharper, a little more focused." Then the men who make the Olympic team in Boston will go immediately to Atlanta for processing, and then go to Spartanburg, S.C., for a fourteen-day training camp with all of the personal coaches and the Olympic coaching staff.

The National team is comprised of the top fourteen gymnasts in the all-around. These same fourteen gymnasts qualify to the U.S. Olympic Trials at the end of this month. Other gymnasts who qualified for the National team were: Kip Simons (Ohio State), Josh Stein (Stanford), Garry Denk (USOTC), Mihai Bagiu (Gold Cup), Jair Lynch (Stanford), Chainey Umphrey (UCLA), Chris Waller (UCLA), Stephen McCain (UCLA), Scott Keswick (UCLA), Mark Booth (Stanford), and Jay Thornton (Iowa).

Highest event scores were as follows:

The top six men, using optional scores only, will qualify to event finals on each apparatus. Blaine Wilson has qualified for all six event finals. John Roethlisberger has qualified for all except vault, where he had the seventh highest score.

In USA Gymnastics Online news, our Quick Hit page for this session received 1035 hits on Thursday -- our first page ever to record over 1000 hits in a single day!

Results from the Compulsory Session

Despite requiring an extra swing on his compulsory parallel bar routine, John Roethlisberger, from University of Minnesota, finished the compulsory competition at the Coca-Cola National Championships in first place. Roethlisberger remarked that he felt "real aggressive at the start [of his parallel bars routine], but the next thing you know I'm swinging all over. It really put the pressure on going into high bar." When asked if he was hoping to win a record fifth national championship, Roethlisberger noted, "A national championship would be great, but the priority is to hit routines. It's fun to win, but it ain't worth diddly if you're not one of the seven at the end [of the Olympic Trials]."

Blaine Wilson, collegiate standout from Ohio State University, lead through the first five rotations but was overtaken by Roethlisberger on the last event despite a clean pommel horse effort from Wilson. "I felt confident after my first two routines, and I tried to put it on cruise control. I'm excited for tomorrow."

Third place went to John Macready, who trains at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

The top apparatus scores were as follows:

Ironically, the top seven men after compulsories are the seven men who represented the USA at the 1995 World Championships in Sabae, Japan.

In his return to competition, Scott Keswick noted that he is still lacking in his conditioning. "I get a little tired at the end of routines. I'll be better by the end of Trials. My plan was to have a solid competition here and position myself for Trials."

Quick Numbers

The top 14 gymnasts will make the National Team.
The top 6 gymnasts on each event, Optional score Only, will advance to Event Finals. Team 2000 athletes are also considered when determining the top six.
The top 14 gymnasts will advance to the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Competition Format

 Men's Team 2000 gymnasts will compete one round of compulsory competition and one round of optional competition. These two rounds will be added together with equal weighting to determine All-Around rank order.

In event finals, scores do not carry over.

Qualification

 Athletes qualified to the Championships by being a ranked member of the National Team from the 1996 Winter Cup Challenge, or through USA approved qualifying competitions.

Feature

 Read our interview with Scott Keswick, USA's 1994 National Champion who was out all of 1995 with a back injury. The Coca-Cola Championships will be his first full competition back!

Roster

 The following 40 athletes have qualified to participate in the Championships:
Kyle Asano              Stanford Gymnastics
Mihai Bagiu             Gold Cup Gymnastics
Mark Booth              Stanford Gymnastics
Don Brown               Team Cypress
Casey Bryan             University of Oklahoma
Jason-Lee Christie      University of Nebraska
Lou Datilio             USOTC Gymnastics
Garry Denk              USOTC Gymnastics
Trent Dimas             USA Gymnastics World
Drew Durbin             Ohio State University
Jamie Ellis             Stanford Gymnastics
Richard Grace           University of Nebraska
Jarrod Hanks            University of Oklahoma
Dennis Harrison         USOTC Gymnastics
Scott Keswick           UCLA Gymnastics
Richard Kieffer         Gold Cup Gymnastics
Robert Kieffer          Gold Cup Gymnastics
Brent Klaus             International Gym. School
Jeffrey LaVallee        Tim Daggett Gold Medal Gym.
Jair Lynch              Stanford Old School
John Macready           USOTC Gymnastics
Stephen McCain          UCLA Gymnastics
Michael Moran           Tim Daggett Gold Medal Gym.
Michael Morgan          Ohio State University
William Mulholland      University of Nebraska
Mark Oliver             University of Washington
Michael Racanelli       Bart Conner Gym. Academy
John Roethlisberger     University of Minnesota
Bill Roth               Temple University
Kip Simons              Ohio State University
David St. Pierre        Broadway Gymnastics School
Josh Stein              Stanford Gymnastics
Jay Thornton            Iowa Hawkeyes
Chainey Umphrey         UCLA Gymnastics
Chris Waller            UCLA Gymnastics
Keith Wiley             Stanford Gymnastics
Michael Williams        Gold Cup Gymnastics
Blaine Wilson           Ohio State Gymnastics
Brian Yee               University of Minnesota
Chris Young             Carolina Twisters
--

[ Home ]
[ Index of Events ]
[ Index of 1996 Events ]

About USA Gymnastics Online.
Please report problems to our webmaster.
Copyright © 1996 USA Gymnastics. All rights reserved.

URL: http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/events/1996/natls/men96.html