Houston Teen Makes It All the Way Back in Juniors

As he lifted Michael Evans to the rings for his final rotation Wednesday at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Kevin Mazeika’s eyes fixed on the 2 1/2-inch scar on the back of Evans’ neck.

“I thought, ‘Man, we’ve come a long way,’ ” said Mazeika, who has coached Evans since he was 5 years old.

The last year has been the hardest.

Evans, an 18-year-old from Houston, was fooling around on the tumbling trampoline at the end of practice last September when he flipped and landed on his head, suffering a severe neck injury.

“I heard a crunch, and I felt numbness--like your foot falling asleep--from my neck to my toes,” Evans said.

The first doctor he saw told him his gymnastics career was over.

“We wanted to see another doctor,” Mazeika said.

A good decision, Evans proved Wednesday, when he finished first in the junior all-around competition at Arco Arena less than a year after the accident.

“Just being here was enough for me,” said Evans, who tore ligaments in his neck and needed a bone graft to fuse his C-5 and C-6 vertebrae. “To win was even sweeter.”

Overcoming injuries might as well be another event to master for many gymnasts.

Blaine Wilson, the three-time defending men’s senior national champion, won his third all-around title last year with a torn rotator cuff--something his coach compared to competing “with a knife stuck in your shoulder.”

After the senior all-around preliminaries Wednesday, Wilson, 25, was second behind Jason Gatson by a tenth of a point, but he won the rings with a 9.6 as the individual event champions were decided.

“Oh, I’m going to beat him Friday,” Wilson said. “It’s been a battle trying to rehab my shoulder. It’s fine, but I’m old. I’m not 19 or 20 anymore.”

Gatson, 19, who twice has finished second to Wilson in the national all-around championships, won the parallel bars with a 9.95 and the floor exercise with a 9.8, and leads the all-around with 57.325 points going into Friday’s all-around final.

John Roethlisberger--like Wilson another a former Olympian recovering from surgery--is third with 56.475 points, and won the pommel horse with a 9.95.

Roethlisberger had knee surgery after being injured at last year’s nationals, and he wore a clunky brace that seemed painful to him on the floor, where he scored only an 8.9. But his knee was not an issue on the horse.

“It’s been a really hard year,” Roethlisberger said, his voice cracking. “This by far is the biggest accomplishment of my career. You can throw the national championships away, the Olympics too, because for a 29-year-old gymnast with a reconstructed knee, to be where I am is a big accomplishment. I’m more proud of this more than anything I’ve done to this point.”

The other events were won by Jamie Natalie, who took the high bar with a 9.95 and Guard Young, who won the vault with a 9.8.

The women--led by Vanessa Atler, the likely 2000 Olympian from Canyon Country--take the stage today for the all-around finals.

Wilson’s bid for a fourth title will be decided Friday, and the women’s individual event finals is Saturday.

Evans’ meet is complete--and so is his comeback.

Next up is his freshman year at Ohio State, a school that offered him a scholarship even though he took his recruiting trip after the injury.

“They gave me a full ride in a neck brace,” Evans said. “It must be the place for me.

“Every day lets me know how thankful and how lucky I am to be where I am.”