De los Angeles leads Winter Cup after first day of competition

5197LAS VEGAS, Feb. 7, 2013 – After two preliminary sessions, Adrian de los Angeles of Long Beach, Calif./University of Michigan, leads the all-around competition with a score of 85.800 at the 2013 Winter Cup Challenge, held today at the Las Vegas (Nev.) Sports Center. Danell Leyva of Miami/Universal Gymnastics, 85.500, and Jake Dalton of Reno, Nev./University of Oklahoma, 85.400, rounded out the top three.

Competition concludes with the Winter Cup Challenge finals on Saturday at 7 p.m. Pacific time, where the top 42 athletes according to the men’s program points system will compete.

De los Angeles started the night scoring 14.500 on pommel horse, 14.250 on still rings and 13.900 on vault. On the parallel bars, de los Angeles performed a tucked Belle before dismounting with a double pike to score 13.850. In the fifth rotation, he scored 13.850 on the horizontal bar, executing laidout and straddled Tkatchevs. Finishing the competition on the floor exercise with a triple twist dismount, he posted his highest score of the evening, a 15.450, to move into the all-around lead.

Leyva, the 2012 Olympic all-around bronze medalist, began competition on parallel bars with an upgraded routine that included a peach to one bar and a double front dismount for a 15.200, his best score of the evening. On the high bar, Leyva showed his trademark layout Kovacs to post a 15.150. He posted scores of 14.500, floor; 12.900, pommel horse; 13.800, still rings; and 13.950, vault.

Beginning competition on floor exercise, Dalton, who finished fifth on the event at the Olympics, mounted with an Arabian double layout. His score, a 15.650, was the highest score of the competition on any event. He posted scores of 12.700, pommel horse; 14.650, still rings; 14.900, vault; 14.200, parallel bars; and 13.300, high bar, to complete his competition.

Session one leader, Eddie Penev of Rochester, N.Y./Stanford University, finished fourth in the combined all-around standings with an 83.500 total.