USA Gymnastics
 Defending U.S. all-around champion Jonathan Horton will compete in next month's Visa Championships in Hartford.
Bloomfield, currently a student at Temple University, will compete in the Men’s Senior division. DiBenedetto, Deaton and Ungar all train at U.S. Olympian Tim Daggett’s Gold Medal Gymnastics in Agawam, MA. DiBenedetto and Deaton are in the Visa Championships’ Junior 14-15-year-old division, and Ungar will compete in the Junior 16-18-year-old division.
Defending U.S. all-around champion Jonathan Horton of Houston, who won silver and bronze medals at the 2008 Games in Beijing, headlines the 86-member men’s field, which features a combination of veteran and rising stars in the junior and senior divisions. Also expected to compete are two of Horton’s teammates from the Olympic bronze-medal team—Joey Hagerty of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Kevin Tan of Fremont, Calif. Performances at the Visa Championships will determine both the members of the 2010 U.S. Men’s Junior and Senior National Teams and the 2010 U.S. Men’s World Championships Team.
Five members of the men’s 2009 U.S. World Championships Team are on the roster: Jake Dalton of Sparks, Nev./University of Oklahoma; Wesley Haagensen of Colorado Springs/U.S. Olympic Training Center; Steven Legendre of Flower Mound, Texas/University of Oklahoma, who competed in the floor exercise finals at the World Championships; Danell Leyva of Miami/Universal Gymnastics, who finished fourth in the high bar at the World Championships; and Horton, who trains at Cypress Academy of Gymnastics and competed in the finals of both the all-around and horizontal bar at the World Championships.
The 2009 senior U.S. individual event champions in the field are: Dalton, vault; Horton, still rings and horizontal bar (tie); Legendre, floor exercise; and Leyva, horizontal bar (tie).
From last year’s junior champions, the 14-15 year-old all-around champion John Orozco of the Bronx, N.Y./World Cup Gymnastics, is competing in the senior division for the first time. Orozco also claimed the junior 14-15 titles in five of the six events in 2009: floor, pommel horse, still rings, parallel bars and horizontal bar. Junior 16-18 pommel horse champion Dylan Akers of Kingwood, Texas/Cypress Academy of Gymnastics, is expected to compete in the senior division. Jordan Valdez of Louisville, Colo./Champion Gymnastics Academy-Texas, was the 16-18 year-old high bar champion in 2009 and will compete in the same age division this year.
The Visa Championships determine the U.S. champions and the national team for each discipline for both the junior and senior elite levels in four disciplines. NBC Sports and Universal Sports will broadcast and webcast the action from the men’s and women’s gymnastics competitions. Events will be held at the Chase Arena on the University of Hartford campus in West Hartford and at the XL Center in downtown Hartford. Tickets are on sale now and available through Ticketmaster.com. For a complete list of the men’s field for the 2010 Visa Championships, click HERE.
COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Tuesday, Aug. 10
10:00 a.m. - T&T Prelims
Wednesday, Aug. 11
10:00 a.m. - T&T Finals
1:00 p.m. - Jr. Men Competition
7:00 p.m. - Sr. Men Competition - Day 1
Thursday, Aug. 12
1:00 p.m. - Jr. Women Comp. - Day 1
7:00 p.m. - Sr. Women Comp. - Day 1
Friday, Aug. 13
9:00 a.m. - Rhythmic Jr. AA Prelims & Event Finals
3:00 p.m. - Rhythmic Sr. AA Prelims & Event Finals
7:00 p.m. - Sr. Men Competition - Day 2
Saturday, Aug. 14
9:00 a.m. - Rhythmic Jr. & Sr. AA Finals
1:00 p.m. - Jr. Women Comp. - Day 2
7:30 p.m. - Sr. Women Comp. - Day 2
Artistic Gymnastics takes place at the XL Center
Rhythmic T&T (trampoline & tumbling) competition takes place at Chase Arena
Television Coverage
Aug. 14 - 8-10 p.m. - NBC Sports LIVE (women's competition)
Aug. 15 - 2:30-4 p.m. - NBC Sports (men's competition)
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