Houston Teen Makes It All the Way Back in Juniors

SACRAMENTO — 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.”