I decided to put up one final pre-U.S. Championships “London StockWatch” before the men’s competition begins this evening.  I’ll be updating this after each day of competition, highlighting the major moves that take place.

 

Men

1.    Danell Leyva                      

 2.    John Orozco           

 3.    Jonathan Horton                       

 4.    Jake Dalton           

 5.    Glen Ishino  

 6.     Alex Naddour

7.     Chris Brooks

8.    Steve Legendre

9.    Brandon Wynn

10.    Sam Mikulak

11.    CJ Maestas

12.   David Sender

 

Just Outside The Top 12:

 

Paul Ruggeri

Eddie Penev

 

Since my last update a month ago…

 

I swapped Jonathan Horton back up to 3rd from 4th, simply after seeing he is healthy and ready to compete six events, hearing how confident and motivated he is in his interviews, and catching a few glimpses of his podium training.  We’ll see if this pans out in the competition, but I’m expecting that Horton will look quite good here.  As always, pommel horse will have a whole lot to do with whether he wins this meet or places third.

 

I moved Chris Brooks up to 7th and Steve Legendre down to 8th, not based on anything in particular other than continued rumors that Chris Brooks looks fantastic, and also considering just how many events he could potentially contribute to Team USA if needed.  I did catch a glimpse of some pommel horse work in podium training, which looked quite good.  These two guys are still the front runners for alternates, in my opinion, but I would not be at all disappointed to be able to move either one of them up higher on this list.

 

I moved David Sender into 12th ahead of Paul Ruggeri – again, not for any particular reason other than the fact that he is here, looks very fit, and could be a potential contributor on rings along with a couple of other events, if he has continued to clean up.  Rings will certainly be a big factor for him…if he doesn’t show a 15 on this event, I could see moving him down out of the top 12, and if he shows a 15 here along with some other strong scores on floor and vault, I could see moving him a little higher.  We’ll soon know where he stands.

 

I added Eddie Penev to a spot just outside the top 12.  I’m not expecting Penev to make the Olympic team at this point, but a spot at the Olympic Trials is not out of the question.  He is, after all, a phenomenal gymnast on floor and vault, has world championship experience, and beat Dalton amongst others on his specialties at the recent NCAA Championships.  I’m looking forward to seeing what he pulls out here.

 

I’ll provide some post-meet thoughts later tonight!