2002 US National Gymnastics Championships Hamming it up in Style Note: For the The News Herald (TPNS) - 10-Aug-2002 - Cleveland, OH, USA -- After Wednesday's preliminary round, the quest for the title of the nation's top all-around gymnasts was set up as a battle between experience and youth. In the end, it was the youthful vigor of 19 year-old Paul Hamm who would put an end to 28 year-old Blaine Wilson's attempt to win an unprecendented sixth national all-around title at Gund Arena. "This feels great," Hamm said, after becoming one of the youngest ever national gymnastics champions. "Hopefully I can go on from here to next year's World Championships and earn a medal there." Hamm's combined score of 114.375 was a comfortable 2.375 ahead of Wilson, handing the two-time Olympian his first defeat in national competition since the 1996 Olympic Trials. "It was certainly a goal of mine to win," Hamm, a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee said, "but I can't say that I expected to win. But I thought I could." Hamm lead Wilson by nearly a full point after Wednesday's first round, and extended his lead another half point further after a 9.70 on the pommel horse. Wilson, lacking Hamm's speed on the horse, scored a 9.20. But Wilson, whose competitive confidence Hamm admits he envies, was not ready to concede. A nearly flawless still rings routine by Wilson earned a 9.925 score, besting Hamm's 9.325 in the same rotation. Hamm bounced back in the vault, with a conservative but solid leap, earning a 9.525. A misstep on a slightly off-balance landing garnered Wilson a 9.20, leaving him still more than a full point behind. Again, the slight knee hyperextension injury which left him limping between Wednesday's preliminary events resurfaced. "After the vault, I knew it would be tough to catch him," Wilson said. In the fourth rotation, Wilson preceded Hamm with a 9.525 in the parallel bars, but again was bested by Hamm's 9.850. Wilson answered with a blistering performance on the high bar, earning a 9.90 and the loudest applause of the evening. Hamm followed immediately with an equally enjoyable if less daring routine of his own, earning a 9.65 from the judges, and the first chorus of boos of these championships from the increasingly energized crowd. "I thought the booing was kind of funny, but it really was a fair score," Hamm admitted. With the boos as a backdrop, Hamm and Wilson exchanged a few words. "Blaine said that it looks as though I was the crowd favorite now." Entering the final event with a comfortable 1.175 point lead, he need to merely avoid a major catastrophe to pull off the upset. "Going into the floor exercise, I knew I had pretty much sealed the deal. I was just trying not to get hurt." We was cautious and confident, hitting a rousing routine and a 9.775 score, and the title was his. Wilson was gracious in defeat, praising his national team teammate. "He's a go-getter. He goes out there and gets the job done. I'm just going to go back to the gym and work harder. The point of this competition is that we're going to have a good team next year." Defending champion Sean Townsend of Houston, third after Wednesday's first round, began the competition with a solid 9.50 performance before a slip in the opening run of his floor exercise routine began a downward spiral from which he would not recover. He finished fifth, behind Guard Young and Hamm's twin brother Morgan. It was a dissapointing week for Townsend who, last October, was the first American to win a gold medal at a world championship since 1979, when he won the parallel bars title in Ghent, Belgium. The Hamm brothers, Wilson, Young and Townsend compete next in a US-China Dual meet in Beijing next week.

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