By Lya Wodra
Morris News Service
Web-posted June 29, 1996

BOSTON - With falls and major mistakes the norm here at the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics trials, consistency was the key for earning a spot on the men's squad.

In the end, John Roethlisberger (228.873), Blaine Wilson (228.159), John Macready (225.142), Chainey Umphrey (223.058), Kip Simons (222.820), Jair Lynch (222.598) and Mihai Bagiu (221.328) came up with the routines needed to make the team.

But not Augustan Jay Thornton, who missed the Olympic team by two slots.

The battle for seventh place was a heated one between Bagiu and Josh Stein. Stein had major breaks on the pommel horse (8.875) and horizontal bar (8.625) to open the door for Bagiu.

Bagiu, who finished seventh at the '96 National Championships, scored a 9.737 on the pommel horse to put him in good position. He clinched a spot with a 9.65 performance on the horizontal bar.

``I knew I was right on the bubble,''Bagiu said. ``I went over my routine about 100 times and tried to hit it like I do in workouts. But there was a lot of stress, I knew where I stood.'' Stein finished eighth with a 220.744. Augustan Thornton had a consistent day and moved up from 11th to finish ninth with a 220.200.

While several gymnasts had falls on at least one event, none had as bad a day as Scott Keswick. The 1992 Olympian was trying to make a comeback after back surgery forced him out of the sport for more than a year.

Keswick was 10th after compulsories, but fell to 12th when he had trouble on the pommel horse (8.9), rings (8.95), horizontal bar (8.85) and vault (8.8).

The only gymnasts on the current team who represented the U.S. in the Olympic Games in 1992 are Roethlisberger and Lynch.

Roethlisberger helped the U.S. finish sixth and was 34th in the all-around.

The only problems Roethlisberger had in Saturday's competition came in the third rotation where he missed his last floor pass and scored 9.125. Nevertheless, Roethlisberger was never in position to lose his spot on the team because of his large lead going into Saturday's competition.

``I just ran out of gas on floor,''Roethlisberger said. ``It was getting close to the end of the meet and I could taste my spot on the Olympic team and I guess I was just too anxious.'' Lynch, who finished sixth on the parallel bars at the '92 Games, had to regroup after two falls off the horizontal bar in the second rotation. He rebounded from the 8.1 performance with four clean routines to earn a trip to Atlanta.

``I ripped my hand to pieces on the parallel bars and it really affected me on the high bar,''Lynch said. ``It shouldn't have but it did. I knew I had four more events to go and I put it behind me. I treated it like a new meet.''

Although he wasn't on the '92 Olympic Team, Umphrey has plenty of international experience. Umphrey, who competed for UCLA, is a four-time World Championships team member from '89 through '96. He placed fifth on the high bar at the '96 World Championships.

Umphrey, a member of the U.S. National Team for eight years, missed a year of competition because of a broken foot between 1991 and 1992. Still hampered by the injury, Umphrey finished eighth at the '92 Olympic Trials - one spot short of the team.

``That was a tough time for me because I thought I should have been on the team,''he said. ``I missed it by so little. That was a real driving force for me to make this team.'' Wilson and Simons have been on the U.S. National Team for four years while Macready has just three years of national team experience.

Simons is a two-time World Championships Team member while Wilson and Macready have competed in just one World Championship. Wilson was the highest U.S. finisher at the '95 World Championships where he was 25th.

Despite the youth of the team, U.S. Olympic coach Peter Kormann said the U.S. could have a strong showing in the Olympics. All but Umphrey were on the U.S. World Championship team that finished ninth in 1995.

``One of the strengths of this team is that they've all been down this road before,'' Kormann said. ``They know what these types of meets are like. A lot of the pressure in the Olympics is here at the Trials. Everyone knows if they don't do well, they won't be in Atlanta at all. That's why there were so many falls. Once they're in Atlanta, they'll be able to relax and feed off the emotions of each other.''