May 24, 2008
Complete Results in PDF Format 
HOUSTON, Texas - Senior David Sender took another step towards realizing his dream of competing in the Olympics as the Arlington Heights, Ill. native won the men's all-around title at the 2008 Visa Championships tonight at Reliant Park in Houston. Sender, who also took top honors in the vault, is one of 14 men who will advance to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Gymnastics, July 19-22, in Philadelphia.
The 10 men who qualified for the senior men's national team based on the points system and will advance to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials are: Alexander Artemev of Lakewood, Colo./Team Chevron; Raj Bhavsar of Houston/Team Chevron; David Durante of Garwood, N.J./Team Chevron; Sean Golden of Camden, N.J./Team Chevron; Joe Hagerty of Rio Ranchero, N.M./Team Chevron; Morgan Hamm of Waukesha, Wis.; Paul Hamm of Waukesha, Wis./Team Chevron; Jonathan Horton of Houston/Team Chevron; Kevin Tan of Fremont, Calif./Team Chevron; and Sender, who competes for Stanford University. The remaining four members of the national team were selected by the Men's Program Committee: Guillermo Alvarez of Denver/Team Chevron; Tim McNeill of Falls Church, Va./University of California - Berkley; Justin Spring of Burke, Va./Team Chevron; and Yewki Tomita of Tucson, Ariz./Team Chevron. In addition, the Men's Program Committee approved the petition of Sean Townsend of Houston, Texas, who is injured, to compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
The individual event champions for 2008 are: Morgan Hamm, floor exercise; Tomita, pommel horse; Tan, still rings; Sender, vault; Spring, parallel bars; and Hagerty, horizontal bar.
Sender won the all-around title with a six-event total of 180.700. Horton was second at 180.450, followed by Hagerty at 180.300. Durante and Bhavsar rounded out the top five in the all-around. Both days of the men's competition counted equally toward the final score. Sho Nakamori finished ninth with a combined score of 175.7. Rounding out the rest of the Stanford competitors was Bryant Hadden in 14th, Ryan Lieberman in 17th, Josh Dixon in 20th, and Tim Gentry in 24th.
Sender had two very consistent days. He won the vault with a total of 32.450, with Golden coming in second at 32.350, and Bhavsar and Hamm tying for third at 32.100. Sender, who won the vault crown in 2004 and 2006, solidly landed his Yurchenko 2-1/2. He was fourth in the floor exercise and horizontal bar, fifth on still rings, and eighth on parallel bars.
"I was thrilled to win the all-around, but more importantly I proved to the selection committee that I can do two nights of steady gymnastics," said Sender. "Nothing's a given for me."
Today's final will be shown on tape-delay on June 8 at 2 p.m. ET on NBC. For more information on the Visa U.S. National Championships, please visit the USA Gymnastics website.