© John Cheng

FRISCO, Texas, February 26, 2022 – Region 1 athletes Colin Flores (Mountain House, Calif./West Coast Olympic Gymnastics Academy), Tyler Flores (Mountain House, Calif./West Coast Olympic Gymnastics Academy), Zach Green (San Jose, Calif./Stanford Boys Gymnastics), Eric Hoe (Phoenix, Ariz./North Valley Gymnastics), Maxwell Odden (Scottsdale, Ariz./North Valley Gymnastics) and Vahe Petrosyan (Van Nuys, Calif./Gymnastics Olympica USA) topped the podium as the 2022 Elite Team Cup Presented by TURN champions Saturday at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. Region 3 took second, ending a six-year title run that spanned the lifetime of the event, while Region 8 rounded out the top-three teams.

The Elite Team Cup is a regional competition in which nine teams, each comprised of six men’s Junior Elite gymnasts, face off in pursuit of national bragging rights. This year’s event was held in conjunction with the 2022 Winter Cup Presented by OZONE and TURN.

USA Gymnastics men’s artistic regions are determined by state. Region 1 spans Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada. Region 3 is comprised of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Region 3 team members were two-time Elite Team Cup champion Caden Clinton (Cypress, Texas/Cypress Academy of Gymnastics), Alex Deubler (Frisco, Texas/WOGA Gymnastics), Mason Heath (Katy, Texas/Cypress Academy of Gymnastics), Kiran Mandava (Cypress, Texas/Cypress Academy of Gymnastics), Chase Mondi (Lawrence, Kan./Emerald City Gymnastics) and David Shamah (McKinney, Texas/WOGA Gymnastics). Region 8, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, was represented by Maxim Bereznev (Woodstock, Ga./Roswell Gymnastics), Jaden Blank (Lakewood Ranch, Fla./EVO Gymnastics), Chase Davenport-Mills (Johns Creek, Ga./Roswell Gymnastics), Alex Karadzhov (St. Petersburg, Fla./EVO Gymnastics), Alexandru Nitache (Knoxville, Tenn./GymTek Academy) and Garrett Schooley (Sarasota, Fla./EVO Gymnastics).


© John Cheng

Shamah (78.250), a Junior Pan American Games team gold medalist in 2021, secured the junior all-around title, outpacing runner up Schooley by nearly two points (76.400). Region 5’s Kai Uemura (Chicago, Ill./Lakeshore Academy) was third (76.100).

Based on their performances, select Elite Team Cup participants earned the opportunity to compete for junior apparatus titles tomorrow alongside their Winter Cup senior division counterparts. In all, 26 junior athletes will be in action. Among them are the top Elite Team Cup scorers on each apparatus, including Mondi who scored a 13.250 on floor exercise, Diego Leautaud (Bartlett, Ill./Gymkhana Gymnastics) who posted a 13.200 on pommel horse, Clinton who notched a 13.200 on still rings, Bereznev who tallied a 14.300 on vault, C. Flores who earned a 13.500 on parallel bars and Tate Costa (Narragansett, R.I./Aim High Academy) who delivered a 13.050 on horizontal bar.

Sunday’s Winter Cup Men’s Day 2 competition is slated to kick off at 6:30 p.m. ET and will stream live on FlipNow Powered by USA Gymnastics.

Scores for all nine Elite Team Cup regional teams are listed below.

  1. Region 1: total, 306.200; floor exercise, 49.750; pommel horse, 49.800; still rings, 50.050; vault, 54.300; parallel bars, 52.450; horizontal bar, 49.850
  2. Region 3: total, 305.400; floor exercise, 50.950; pommel horse, 48.800; still rings, 51.800; vault, 54.000; parallel bars, 50.100; horizontal bar, 49.750
  3. Region 8: total, 304.900; floor exercise, 51.150; pommel horse, 49.350; still rings, 49.200; vault, 55.650; parallel bars, 51.400; horizontal bar, 48.150
  4. Region 6: total, 300.900; floor exercise, 49.350; pommel horse, 49.100; still rings, 49.050; vault, 54.000; parallel bars, 49.300; horizontal bar, 50.100
  5. Region 5: total, 300.800; floor exercise, 49.600; pommel horse, 51.050; still rings, 49.600; vault, 53.600; parallel bars, 50.700; horizontal bar, 46.250
  6. Region 7: total, 300.800; floor exercise, 50.550; pommel horse, 49.000; still rings, 49.000; vault, 53.700; parallel bars, 49.450; horizontal bar, 49.100
  7. Region 9: total, 293.000; floor exercise, 49.550; pommel horse, 46.550; still rings, 49.450; vault, 53.550; parallel bars, 45.650; horizontal bar, 48.250
  8. Region 2: total, 292.800; floor exercise, 48.200; pommel horse, 47.700; still rings, 47.700; vault, 51.950; parallel bars, 50.000; horizontal bar, 47.250
  9. Region 4: total, 290.750; floor exercise, 49.700; pommel horse, 46.000; still rings, 47.700; vault, 53.400; parallel bars, 48.200; horizontal bar, 45.750