Buffalo Grove product Sender sparkles in homecoming

It was a special homecoming for David Sender, the 2008 all-around men's gymnastic national champion.

The 2004 Buffalo Grove High School graduate led the 38th annual Tyson American Cup after five events Saturday with an all-around score of 76.15.

But Germany's 2008 Olympic horizontal bar bronze medalist Fabian Hambuechen hit on a perfect bar routine, scoring a 15.75 to nip Sender for the all-around title 90.65-90.45 before a crowd of 6,388 at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.

Last year's junior all-around champion, Jordyn Wieber, (60.20) and 2008 Olympic team silver medalist Bridget Sloan (59.60) went 1-2 in the women's all-around. U.S. Olympic team bronze medalist Joseph Hagerty took third in the men's all-around (89.55).

It was still a successful homecoming for Sender, who participated in his second competition since spraining his ankle before the Olympic trials, which ended his hopes of Beijing glory.

"I had a lot of fun competing. I don't miss the weather too much, but I love being back in Chicago," said Sender, a 2008 Stanford graduate. "I had a lot of family and friends here. It was a lot of fun."

Sender used a Yurchenko 21/2 twist to score an impressive 16.2 on the vault. The 23-year-old also took first on the pommel horse (14.5) and still rings (15.3), and took second on the floor (15.15) to propel him to the early lead.

"That's been my fifth year doing that now," Sender said of his vault routine. "I've never had a problem doing that. It's just the little things like the landing. It's a fun vault."

But Hambuechen proved to be too strong on both the parallel bars (15.1), with a second-place finish added to his first-place finish on the horizontal bars. Sender finished fourth on the parallel bars (15.0) and fifth on the horizontal bars (14.3).

"I generally don't watch the scores too much," Sender said. "I knew it was going to be close and I'd have to hit a pretty good high bar routine. I almost wish there were a couple things that were a little bit better - that might have been enough."

Chicago is one of the four finalists to host the 2016 Olympics, with an International Olympic Committee decision due Oct. 2. Sender can think of no better place to hold the sporting showpiece.

"It would be amazing," Sender said of Chicago being selected. "It probably is the only way I'd make the 2016 Olympics. I think Chicago is a great city and a great representation of America."

In her first major senior competition, Wieber put on quite a show on the women's side, as the 13-year-old swept the vault (15.75), bars (14.8) and beam (15.0) and took second on the floor (14.65).

"It boosted my confidence a lot," said Wieber of her title. "I was a little bit nervous, but throughout the whole week my training really helped."