2023 U.S. Core Hydration Classic Recap

The All-Arounders

The men's competition at the Core Hydration Classic concluded Sunday, August 6th in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. In a thrilling, albeit long first session, gymnasts from Stanford and Michigan battled for the title of All-Around Champion.

In the end, Stanford's Asher Hong bested teammate Khoi Young for the title by almost two points thanks to the new bonus system that rewards high difficulty. Hong has increased his difficulty since the 2022 World Championships by 1.2 points, helping close the gap to international competitors. His highest score of the day came from competing the Ri Se Gwang vault – one of four vaults with the highest degree of difficulty in the code of points.

Young had a stellar day placing in the top three on three events, as well as second in the all-around. He was followed in the all-around by a pair of Michigan gymnasts, Paul Juda and Cameron Bock. After coming back from several injuries, Juda debuted a surprise Yurchenko Double Pike for the third-highest score on vault.

A trio of Stanford gymnasts, Riley Loos, Jeremy Bischoff, and Colt Walker placed fifth, sixth, and eight respectively in the all-around. The most decorated gymnast in the field, Donnell Whittenburg struggled through a downgraded pommel horse routine eventually falling off the event which deeply affected his all-around score. Whittenburg spoke with the media pre-competition about the injuries he has been struggling with, including the twisties. He plans to have his standard difficulty ready for U.S. Nationals in San Jose.

The Event Winners:

It is no surprise that 2021 World Champion, Stephen Nedoroscik took home the pommel horse title. Nedoroscik had to wait four hours before having the opportunity to perform his routine. He did not show full difficulty, but he did include the Busnari for the first time in the competition.

All-around standouts, Yul Moldauer and Shane Wiskus only chose to compete select events as a warm-up for the National Championships. Moldauer's performance truly did serve as a warm-up testing out a reconstructed parallel bar routine and bringing back the triple-double dismount on high bar. Following a rough pommel horse set, Moldauer scratched still rings where he had planned on performing an upgraded dismount. Wiskus performed on pommel horse, parallel bars, and high bar. With upgraded difficulty, he took home the high bar title with a 14.150.

Curran Phillips took the parallel bars title despite a fall with a massive 6.9 difficulty score – a D score that gave him the win thanks to the .706 in bonus points. His routine was clean until the fall on the Diam 1/2. He remounted and repeated the skill into the double front dismount.

With the exception of floor exercise, all of the event winners came from session 1. Only Connor McCool took an event title from session 2. Competing an upgraded routine for the first time, McCool not only took the title but also earned on of the coveted final spots to compete at the 2023 U.S. National Championships.

Joining him in qualifying from the 2023 Core Hydration Classic are:

• Cameron Bock (Michigan)

• Brandon Briones (Stanford)

• Javier Alfonso (Michigan)

• Brandon Nguyen (Stanford)

• Zachary Nunez (Oklahoma)

• Evan Manivong (Illinois)

• Fuzzy Benas (Oklahoma)

• Michael Artlip (Penn State)

• Dallas Hale (Texas Armadillos)

• JR Chou (Stanford)

• Patrick Hoopes (Air Force)

• Ian Gunther (Stanford)

• Michael Jaroh (Penn State)

• Jackson Harrison (ASU)

• Crew Bold (Michigan)

These sixteen athletes will join Jeremy Bischoff, Landen Blixt, Garrett Braunton, Taylor Burkhart, Taylor Christopulos, Matthew Cormier, Alex Diab, Isaiah Drake, Michael Fletcher, Vitaliy Guimaraes [withdrawn], Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Josh Karnes, Ian Lasic-Ellis, Riley Loos, Brody Malone [withdrawn], Yul Moldauer, Stephen Nedoroscik, Kameron Nelson, Vahe Petrosyan, Curran Phillips, Fred Richard, Tyler Shimizu, Ian Skirkey, Blake Sun, Colt Walker, Donnell Whittenburg, Shane Wiskus, Khoi Young, and Oliver Zavel in San Jose!.

On a final note, Stanford's Ian Gunther debuted a Xiao Ruizhi (a straddled counter salto) and the crowd went wild!

Haven't had enough of men's gymnastics, click on the name for full replays of Session 1 and Session 2. for nearly eight hours of coverage!

AA Results:

1. Asher Hong - 85.305

2. Khoi Young - 83.424

3. Paul Juda - 83.354

4. Cameron Bock - 83.100

5. Riley Loos - 82.019

6. Jeremy Bischoff - 80.150

7. Donnell Whittenburg - 79.944

8. Colt Walker - 79.350

FX Results:

1. Connor McCool - 14.833

2. Asher Hong - 14.749

3. Khoi Young - 14.550

4. Riley Loos - 14.314

5. Javier Alfonso - 14.300

6. Jackson Harrison - 14.250

7. Jeremy Bischoff - 14.250

8. Michael Artlip - 14.050

PH Results:

1. Stephen Nedoroscik - 15.157

2. Khoi Young - 14.872

3. Patrick Hoopes - 14.392

4. Blake Sun - 13.850

5. Zach Nunez - 13.807

6. Colt Walker - 13.550

7. Shane Wiskus & Cameron Bock - 13.400

SR Results:

1. Asher Hong - 14.749

2. Donnell Whittenburg - 14.661

3. Javier Alfonso - 14.200

4. Riley Loos - 14.103

5. Brandon Briones - 14.100

6. Brandon Nguyen - 13.700

7. Colt Walker - 13.700

8. Cameron Bock - 13.650

VT Results (Single Vault)

1. Asher Hong - 15.705

2. Khoi Young - 15.202

3. Paul Juda - 15.012

4. Dallas Hale - 14.850

5. Curran Phillips - 14.750

6. Brandon Briones - 14.600

7. Evan Manivong - 14.550

8. Brandon Nguyen - 14.500

PB Results:

1. Curran Phillips - 15.456

2. Blake Sun - 15.194

3. Shane Wiskus - 15.061

4. J.R. Chou - 15.050

5. Yul Moldauer - 14.955

6. Cameron Bock - 14.550

7. Asher Hong - 14.300

8. Riley Loos - 14.150

HB Results:

1. Shane Wiskus - 14.150

2. Brandon Briones - 14.062

3. Paul Juda - 14.000

4. Michael Jaroh - 13.800

5. Vahe Petrosyan - 13.500

6. Riley Loos - 13.550

7. Cameron Bock - 13.450

8. Asher Hong - 13.450

Full results can be found here:

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Article by: Kensley Behel