The USA team of John Orozco, Sam Mikulak, Jake Dalton, Donnell Whittenburg, Alex Naddour and Eddie Penev cruised to the gold on Friday night at the Pacific Rim Championships. Taking the top score on five of the six apparatus the US finished with 355.95 to finish ahead of second place China who was over eight points back. Canada finished third in the event.
The gold did not continue to the all-around where Whittenburg was the top man for the US but was narrowly defeated by Weifeng Cai of China who won with 87.450 to Whittenburg’s 87.200. Mikulak was third with 87.150 while Orozco (86.850) and Naddour (86.650) made it four of the top five for the US.
This event also served to set the lineup for Sunday’s individual event finals where the US qualified two for each event. The floor event will feature Penev and Dalton while Naddour and Mikulak will take part on the pommel horse. Top all-around American Whittenburg will be joined by Orozco on the rings, parallel bars, and the horizontal bar and be joined by Penev on the vault.
In the team trampoline competition it was gold for the US women’s team of Jessica Stevens, Alyssa Oh, Shaylee Dunavin and Charlotte Drury. Certainly a narrow victory for the US with a margin of just over 1.25 points over Japan. On the men’s side the team of Tristan Ackerson, Steven Gluckstein, and Jeffrey Gluckstein finished in third behind Russia and Japan. Margins were thin as well here with the US just 0.51 points behind Japan.
In rhythmic gymnastics the US team of Lili Mizuno, Heather Chan, Brigita Budginas, Nicole Kaloyanov, Aliya Protto, and Camilla Feeley was far and away the best side through the first two events that took place on day one. They lead Canada 131.215 to 112.479 with the remaining four events to be contested on Saturday. Not surprisingly the all-around standings are dominated by the US athletes. Protto leads the way at 34.266 and has a one point lead over Feeley. Budginas at 31.583, Kaloyanov at 31.366, and Chan at 30.683 wrap up the all-American top five.
Saturday will see the women’s artistic team of Brenna Dowell, Ragan Smith, Laurie Hernandez, Aly Raisman, and Simone Biles begin their competition at 10 PM ET with the team and all-around competitions. The same time is when the trampoline finals will begin with all four American seniors involved (Dunavin, Drury, and the two Glucksteins). The rhythmic competition continues with their final day of team and all-around competition starting at 5 PM ET.
Live streaming of the event is available at the Pacific Rim Championships site.
