GYMNASTICS: Mikulak cruises to sixth national title while Moldauer and Modi only pass Wiskus in final event

Break-through star Shane Wiskus of Minnesota (Photo: GopherSports.com)

There wasn’t much doubt that unless he was injured, Sam Mikulak was going to win his sixth U.S. national All-Around title at the USA Gymnastics National Championships at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. But there was plenty of drama during the evening.

The drama had nothing to do with Mikulak, who gave solid performances on all six apparatus and compiled a second-day score of 87.400, better than his Thursday total of 86.750. His total of 174.150 gave him two consecutive championships and six total, tying him with Makoto Sakamoto, who won six All-Around titles between 1963-70 for second all-time. The all-time leader in national titles is Alfred Jochim, who won seven between 1925-33.

Now to the excitement. Shane Wiskus, who just completed his sophomore season at the University of Minnesota, tied for third on Thursday, but then compiled strong scores on Floor (14.300), Vault (14.350) and Parallel Bars (14.850) – plus an amazing, one-handed save on High Bar (13.150) – to stand in second place with 167.600 points with former national champ Yul Moldauer and veteran Akash Modi needing good scores to pass him.

Modi’s Vault was excellent, earning 14.500 to move ahead of Wiskus and into second place, with Moldauer getting ready on floor. The Oklahoma star got his best score of the night – 14.700 – to finish second for the second straight year, finishing at 168.600 to 168.250 for Modi and 167.600 for Wiskus.

Wiskus was 2.700 points better than Trevor Howard in fourth and is suddenly a candidate for the 2019 World Championships team. The team will be selected after a September training camp, but Wiskus is a welcome addition to a team that wants to contend desperately for an Olympic team medal in Tokyo.

On Saturday, Mikulak won the Horizontal Bar and Parallel Bars and tied with Moldauer for the Pommel Horse honors. Modi won the Vault and Trevor Howard had the top score on Rings.

The women will compete tomorrow to complete the Nationals; NBC will have coverage at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Summaries so far:

USA Gymnastics National Championships
Kansas City, Missouri (USA) ~ 8-11 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

All-Around I: 1. Sam Mikulak, 86.750; 2. Yul Moldauer, 84.000; 3. tie, Shane Wiskus and Akash Modi, 83.950; 5. Trevor Howard, 82.250; 6. Riley Loos, 81.150; 7. Donnell Wittenburg, 81.100; 8. Matt Wenske, 80.950.

Event leaders:
Floor: 1. Mikulak, 14.650; 2. Loos, 14.350; 3. Moldauer, 14.300.
Pommel Horse: 1. Stephen Nedoroscik, 14.950; 2. Mikulak, 14,750; 3. Michael Paradise, 14.550.
Rings: 1. Alex Diab, 14.600; 2. Howard, 14,550; 3. Whittenburg, 14.500.
Vault: 1. Wiskus, 14.500; 2. tie, Kiwan Watts and Tim Wang, 14.400.
Parallel Bars: 1. Mikulak, 15.350; 2. Moldauer, 14.800; 3. tie, Wiskus & Modi, 14.500.
Horizontal Bars: 1. Mikulak, 14.200; 2. Modi, 13.700; 3. Paul Juda, 13.600.

All-Around II: 1. Sam Mikulak, 87.400; 2. Moldauer, 84.600; 3. Modi 84.300; 4. Wiskus, 83.650; 5. Allan Bower, 83.000; 6. Howard, 82.650; 7. Sean Melton, 81.950; 8. Levi Anderson, 81.550.

Event leaders:
Floor: 1. Moldauer, 14.700; 2. Mikulak, 14.650; 3. Gage Dyer, 14.500.
Pommel Horse: 1. Mikulak and Moldauer, 14.400; 3. Bower, 14.350.
Rings: 1. Howard, 14.700; 2. Whittenburg, 14.600; 3. Mikulak, 14.250.
Vault: 1. Modi, 14.500; 2. Moldauer, 14.400; 3. Wiskus, 14.350.
Parallel Bars: 1. Mikulak, 15.300; 2. Wiskus, 14.850; 3. Moldauer, 14.600.
Horizontal Bars: 1. Mikulak, 14.500; 2. Modi and Melton, 13.650.

Final Standings: 1. Mikulak, 174.150; 2. Moldauer, 168.600; 3. Modi, 168.250; 4. Wiskus, 167.600; 5. Howard, 164.900; 6. Bower, 163.650; 7. Whittenburg, 163.100; 8. Melton, 162.750.

Women

All-Around I: 1. Simone Biles, 58.650; 2. Suni Lee, 56.900; 3. Jade Carey, 56.100; 4. Riley McCusker, 55.700; 5. tie, Leanne Wong and Trinity Thomas, 55.400; 7. Jordan Chiles, 55.350; 8. Morgan Hurd, 55.050.

Event leaders:
Vault: 1. Biles, 15.300; 2. Jade Carey, 15.000; 3. Jordan Chiles, 14.750.
Uneven Bars: 1. Lee, 14.750; 2. Hurd, 14.400; 3. Thomas, 14.200.
Beam: 1. Biles, 14.950; 2. McCusker, 14.500; 3. Lee, 14.350.
Floor: 1. Biles, 14.350; 2. Carey, 14.300; 3. Lee, 13.950.