2023 Core Hydration Classic: Hong brothers sweep men’s all-around titles as Paul Juda makes triumphant return

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Asher Hong road top scores on rings and vault to the senior men’s title at the 2023 Core Hydration Classic on Sunday.

Hong, who most recently competed at the NCAA championships with Stanford in April, was looking to get his feet wet, much as the rest of the field at the precursor event to the U.S. Championships later this month. Instead, he won two event titles and handily bested the field by nearly two points with an 85.305 all-around total.

“Not bad, not bad. It’s my first competition since NCAAs in April, so it was kind of something to get used to again, especially on podium and on Spieth equipment and whatnot… Everything except the Busnari on horse went as planned, so I’m pretty happy with today.”

The Busnari did, indeed, give the Stanford standout trouble on pommel horse, where he had his only fall of the day, but the error wasn’t enough to outweigh his standout routines on rings (14.749) and vault (15.705), where he competed a clean Ri Se Gwang. He won those event titles and also finished second on floor. (14.749).

“I think I’m making that progress,” Hong said about the difficult vault, which he’s been trying to minimize deductions on in training. “They’re not going to make an exception at worlds, right? So it’s something I have to fix, and I don’t mind putting in the work to fix it if it’s gonna get me a few tenths higher. If it’s gonna separate me more than the guys who are doing the 5.6 vault, then that’s what I need to do.”

Hong didn’t do a second vault at this meet for two reasons: it’s the Classic, so it’s not that big of a deal, but also because he sustained a minor injury a couple weeks ago when he dropped a shelf on his toe and the whole toenail tore off. While the injury is pretty much healed at this point, he wasn’t able to train vault for a week after that.

The 2022 world team member was particularly proud of his high bar set because of struggles on the event over the past year.

Between now and nationals, Hong will assess whether the Busnari is worth competing in his horse set and consider other upgrades. That being said, it’s a two-week turnaround to nationals, so for the most part, the focus will be on execution and conditioning. 

The highlight of Hong’s meet wasn’t routine-related; it was the audience at NOW Arena.

“This was my first U.S. comp where I felt really engaged with the audience,” Hong said. “And it was really cool to see the kids really get energized and hype for us.”

After the meet, Hong, Yul Moldauer, Curran Phillips, Stephen Nedoroscik, and Brody Malone, were seen climbing the arena riser to take photos with fans and sign autographs. As the kids around the arena caught on, more and more ran over to meet the gymnasts.

“The fact that these kids had fun at a men’s gymnastics meet really shows, hey, we can actually have fun at these comps, too. It’s not just the women’s events,” Hong said enthusiastically. “I’m not discrediting the women at all… but it’s really awesome to see the little men’s gymnasts get hype for us.”

Rounding out the podium in the all-around was Hong’s Stanford teammate and fellow national team member Khoi Young, who posted an 83.424, and Paul Juda, who was right behind Young with an 83.354. 

Paul Juda’s statement return

Juda’s podium finish was a triumphant return to the elite stage after a year of incessant injury battles.

At last year’s U.S. Classic, Juda hyperextended his left knee before the competition, forcing him to withdraw from the meet and the U.S. Championships. He petitioned to world team selection camp, where he competed four events and was ultimately selected as a non-traveling alternate. Two more injuries kept him from competing for Michigan this season – a year after winning the NCAA individual all-around title – but finally, this year’s Classic presented the right time to mount his comeback.

“The first goal that I had today was – I wrote it down last night – to be safe, have fun, and leave the meet healthy, and it’s been so tough to do that,” Juda said. “It felt like I was on a big injury bug for so many months and so many competitions and so to be able to come out here and land that last ring dismount. I mean, I think I swung my arms maybe 10 times, but I was so happy because I did six events and I left healthy.”

Although his health is clearly the number one priority, Juda didn’t just bring clean routines to the meet; he surprised the arena when he opened his competition on vault with a Yurchenko double pike – the same vault that Simone Biles competed the night before – earning a 15.102.

It’s a skill Juda has been training since June 2022. A year later, he was able to successfully compete it and post the third-highest score on the event. 

“Magician’s got to keep his secrets, right?” Juda said of the grand reveal.

The only major mistake in Juda’s comeback meet came on pommel horse, where he did something he’s all too familiar with.

“I’ll tell you exactly what happened… Ever since I was young, I would always really like to celebrate a little bit early while I’m still on the event, which is obviously probably not the best thing to do and it lets you get ahead of yourself,” Juda said. “So in the middle of my routine, I’m so stoked. I literally get up to the handstand, and I’m already thinking about how I’m going to celebrate when I get on the ground with my teammates and coaches. And then, next thing I know, I’m standing on the horse.

“What do I do? Why am I standing on the horse?” Juda laughed. “… Just a moment of lapse judgement. I was able to finish the routine right after, but I’ll try not to stand on the horse again.”

EVO athletes lead senior men’s event winners as stars gear up for championships

The only event winner from Session 2 was Illinois star Connor McCool, who once again displayed a powerful and difficult floor set to win with a 14.833 and garner a huge reaction from the crowd.

Also qualifying to championships was Sun Devil Gymnastics Club’s Jackson Harrison. They earned a 14.250 to finish sixth. It was the highest finish by a GymACT athlete at the event. Kellen Ryan (Minnesota) was also 11th overall and tied for 10th on vault.

EVO swept the remaining men’s titles, with 2021 world pommel horse champion Nedorosick winning his specialty event with a 15.157. Parallel bars standout Phillips won the event with a 15.456 despite a fall. On high bar, Shane Wiskus surpassed Brandon Briones and Juda for the win with a 14.150.

Other notable performances: Donnell Whittenburg was seventh all-around with a 79.944 in what he called a “practice competition” after recently dealing with a case of the twisties and whiplash that impacted his training. He was also second on rings with a 14.661.

2020 Olympian Moldauer only competed pommel horse, parallel bars, and high bar, scratching from rings. While he had falls on horse and high bar, his parallel bars set was good enough for a 14.955 and fifth. He also hit a laid-out triple-double dismount on high bar. 

2020 Olympic team alternate Briones showed strong sets on rings (14.100), vault (14.600), and high bar (14.062) in his first elite competition since the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. 

Colt Walker competed at his first elite meet since last year’s world championships, finishing eighth all-around with a 79.350 despite being months removed from injury.

Xander Hong wins junior men’s title

Asher’s younger brother Xander, who currently represents Cypress Academy, also competed in the junior men’s competition that took place in Session 1, winning that title with a 75.100 all-around total.

Hong also won event titles on pommel horse (12.400) and high bar (12.500) and finished second on rings (12.650).

Oleksandr Shybitov (74.850) and Wade Nelson (74.550) rounded out the podium.

The other junior men’s event winners were Divier Ramos (floor – 12.950), Jesse Hanny (rings – 13.000), Nelson (vault – 14.500), and Hanny (parallel bars – 13.300).

16 senior men and six junior men qualify to U.S. Championships

The Classic serves as the final qualifier to the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, which will take place in two weeks at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, from August 24-27.

The following athletes qualified to championships from the Classic based off the 10-Point System (seniors) and all-around results (juniors).

Seniors

Javier Alfonso
Michael Artlip
Fuzzy Benas
Cameron Bock
Crew Bold
Brandon Briones
J.R. Chou
Ian Gunther
Dallas Hale
Jackson Harrison (they/them)
Patrick Hoopes
Michael Jaroh
Evan Manivong
Connor McCool
Brandon Nguyen
Zachary Nunez

Juniors

Jesse Hanny
Xander Hong
Gage Kalley
Wade Nelson
Tristen Nye
Oleksandyr Shybitov

Note: The junior and senior men’s programs use a bonus system to encourage pursuing more difficult skills. Those bonuses, where applicable, are included in the above results.

Full junior men’s results and senior men’s results.