USA concludes Kellogg's Pacific Rim Championships with 13 more medals

© John Cheng

• Event Finals: Sr. Women | Sr. Men
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EVERETT, Wash., March 18, 2012 – Team USA completed a dominating performance at the 2012 Kellogg's Pacific Rim Championships, winning an impressive 13 medals during the senior event finals competition Sunday night in Comcast Arena at Everett. Over the three days of competition, the United States won a total of 63 medals between men's and women's gymnastics (36), rhythmic gymnastics (18), and men's and women's trampoline (9).
Jake Dalton of Reno, Nev./University of Oklahoma, came out of the gates strong for the Americans, winning the floor exercise title with a 15.375 with an Arabian double layout first pass and triple twist dismount. Japan's Tatsuki Nakashima finished second with 15.075 and China's Ran Cheng was third with a 14.575. Chris Brooks of Houston/Team Hilton HHonors (Cypress Gymnastics), finished fourth with a 14.550, opening with a stuck double front pike.
On pommel horse, China's Rongbing Liu won the gold medal with a score of 14.825. Brooks won the silver medal with a strong routine, scoring 14.700. Sam Mikulak of Ann Arbor, Mich./University of Michigan, won the bronze with a score of 14.375.
Brooks nailed a rings routine to score 15.075 with a stuck one-and-a-half twisting double back dismount to win the gold medal. Japan's Takuya Nakase (14.950) and Australia's Joshua Jefferis (14.825) completed the podium in second and third, respectively.
Hong Kong's Wai Hung Shek won the vault title with a score of 15.687. Mikulak earned the silver medal for his vaults, a Kasamatsu double and a front handspring double front, scoring an average 15.562. Canada's Scott Morgan took third with a score of 15.512. Dalton finished fourth with a score of 15.475.
On parallel bars, Jorge Giraldo of Colombia won the title with a score of 15.150. Ran Cheng of China took second with a score of 14.850. Mikulak, whose routine includes a Diamidov to Stutz to double pike dismount, took third with a score of 14.625.
In the final event of the competition, the high bar, the USA finished out the competition in style, grabbing another gold and silver medal. Brooks won the event with a 15.450, flying high on his Yamawaki to Gienger combination before sticking his layout double double dismount. Mikulak, who medaled on all four events on which he competed today, dazzled the crowd with a huge Kolman release move and a stuck double twisting double layout of his own for a 15.175 and the silver.
"Being at the Kellogg's Pacific Rim and competing for Team USA has been a lot of fun," Mikulak said. "I just wanted to come here and hit my sets – and that's exactly what I did."
China's Liu Rongbing won the bronze on high bar, scoring 14.850.
In women's vault, Japan's Wakiko Ryu, who competed a Yurchenko double full for her first vault, won the title with a score of 14.062. Hong Kong's Hiu Ying Angel Wong earned the silver with a 13.875 and Japan's Risa Konishi took bronze with a score of 13.587.
Gabrielle Douglas of Virginia Beach, Va./Chow's Gymnastics and Dance, won the uneven bars title, scoring 15.150 for her routine that included a Lin pirouette to L-grip Endo and piked and straddled Tkatchevs. Kyla Ross of Aliso Viejo, Calif./Gym-Max, won the silver medal with a toe-on Shaposhnikova half twist and a stuck double layout to earn a 15.050. China's Lou Peiru finished third (14.700).
Douglas said, "It felt great to win bars and go home with the gold. I had a rough competition on Friday, so I'm really excited and proud. It's a little bit of redemption for me."
Ross won the balance beam title with a solid routine, scoring 15.375, complete with a switch ring leap to back tuck, a front aerial to back handspring, layout step out series and a double tuck dismount.
Ross said, "I came out strong and had a good first senior meet. I didn't realize I won beam because I was last on beam and first on floor. I was happy when I learned I won beam."
Canada's Christine Lee was second on beam with a score of 15.300, and China's Sixin Tan won bronze with a score of 15.050. Jordyn Wieber of DeWitt, Mich./Gedderts' Twistars USA, who earlier won the Kellogg's Pacific Rim Championships all-around title, finished sixth with a score of 13.700.
Wieber rebounded on the floor exercise, easily executing a double twisting, double back mount to take the title with a 15.125. Canada's Lee won the silver, while Ross scored a 14.375 on floor using a double Arabian to stag jump for her mount.
Wieber said, "I'm really excited to win floor. I've been working hard to get my start value higher and also trying to get better execution. Overall, this has been a great competition. Coming out of the meet with gold in the team competition and in the all-around - it was an awesome weekend."
Held every two years, the Pacific Rim Championships were held in Honolulu in 2004 and 2006; San Jose in 2008; and Melbourne, Australia, in 2010. In 2010, the USA won both the men's and women's team titles and three of the all-around titles - John Orozco of the Bronx, N.Y./U.S. Olympic Training Center, junior men; Jordyn Wieber of DeWitt, Mich./Gedderts' Twistars USA, junior women; and Rebecca Bross of Plano, Texas/WOGA, senior women. Past all-around champions include the USA's Paul Hamm, Carly Patterson, and Nastia Liukin.