July 18, 2006
IOWA CITY – University of Iowa gymnast Curtis Kleffman is among the 27 gymnasts who qualified for the senior division of the Visa Championships based on performances at the 2006 Men’s Qualifier held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs,CO, July 15.
Gymnasts advanced to the Visa Championships based on point totals awarded for performances at the U.S. Men’s Qualifier. The field of 99 gymnasts included 11 athletes who had pre-qualified for the Visa Championships as members of the senior national team.
Kleffman, a junior, had the highest score on pommel horse during the Qualifier’s second session, which featured athletes attempting to qualify to the Senior Division at the Visa Championships. He scored 15.05 and finished three tenths of a point ahead of the 2006 NCAA Pommel Horse Champion, Tim McNeill of Cal-Berkeley.
The Visa Championships feature the United States’ best gymnasts vying for national titles in men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics, as well as qualifying for the respective U.S. national teams. The Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN, is playing host to the 2006 Visa Championships, Aug. 16-19.