GYMNASTICS
UPDATE • CONGRATULATIONS
MARIE ROOHUSBERGER 1990 GTE ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN WOMEN'S AT-LARGE TEAM Marie Roethlisberger, the 1990 uneven bars champion at the NCAA
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Championships, and 1984 Olympian was named to the 1990 GTE Academic A ll -A m e ri ca n Wom en 's A tLarge team. This hon or goes to the athlete w ho best combines athletic and academic talent. Marie, w ho attends the University of Minnesota, has a 3.69 grade point average in biochemistry and plans to attend medical school.
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GYMNAST USES PHYSICS TO
WIN
Jodie Trafton, 16, of Squantum, Mass., entered the state science fair at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for her project, "The Physics of a Giant." She not only was selected as one of the 20 first-place winners from among 200 entrants, but she also learned her giant swing on bars. "I was happy that 1 won the fair," said Trafton. "But I was really happy when I did my giant, too." Trafton, who has been involved in gymnastics since
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the age of three, has worked on a giant swing for four years. She said, "I decided maybe I could figure out what I was doing wrong in gymnastics by stud ying vertical circles." She used video tapes of world-class gymnasts to calculate the angular acceleration for each position. "I wanted to see how changes in the body position affected the swing," she said. Aboutthr2e-and-one-half months into the project, she perfected the giant swing. Trafton attends the Somersault Center in Stoughton, Mass. and practices about 10 hours a week. Congra tulations Jodie and thanks to Tom Fontecchio, the region VI chairman, for submitting the article.
1990 JUNIOR OLYMPIC NAnONAI. TEAM By Robert Cowan
member team comes from 19 different clubs. This is a major change from past years when three or four clubs would dominate the scene. The growth of our coaches and ability to produce national level competitors has significantly improved. In addition, the skill level was extremely improved!
The Junior Olympic Nationals were held in Baltimore, Maryland over the fourth of July weekend. Hosted by Rick Tucker's parents club, the event was outstanding and unprecedented in many aspects. Record numbers of athletes, coaches, and clubs participated. Attendance records were broken, concessions and merchandise sales records were Tom Meadows from Gymnastrum. exceeded. The new Junior National I The following gymnasts make up the 1990 Junior Team is one of the best in the past 10 years. Further, the 20 Olympic National Teams:
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1990 Junior Olympic National Team Class 2 Athlete Jay Thornton Brandy Wood 3. Joseph Duda 4. Beau Hanle 5. Duane Holland II 6. Casey Bryan 7. Stephen George 8. Spencer McKnightSlayton 9. Joseph D. Buscaglia 10. Gewin Sincharoen # 1. 2.
Club Augusta Gym. Train. Center Gord Cup Surgent's Elite Crenshaw Athletic Club John Pancott Gym. Center USA Gymnastics World Wyoming School of Gym. Atlanta School of Gymnastics
Score 107.20 106.00 105.65 105.05 104.70 104.30 104.30 103.80
Coach Nick Brancheau Ed Burch Matt Stevenson Gil Elsass Joe O'Laughiin Chris Leech Raleigh Wilson Joe Strank
Niagara Gymnastics Olympica Suns
103.45 Torey Hirsch 103.35 Dan Connelly
1990 Junior Olympic National Team Class 1 1. Tom Meadows 2. Mark Booth 3. Jason Christie 4. Mike Williams 5. Andrew Manson 6. John Bliesener 7. Matt White 8. Scott Foster 9. Scott Barnes 10. Skeeter Winkler
Gymnastrum Reno Gymnastics Nebraska School of Gym. Washington Gym. Acad. Atlanta GymfIairs Queen City Gymnastics Youngstown Gym Center Olympic Academy Nebraska School of Gym. Culbertson's Gymnastique
108.55 108.30 108.05 105.70 105.50 105.40 105.30 105.15 104.70 104.70
Larry Moyer Bill Miller Chuck Chmelka Mark Russo Mike Raines Keith Pettit Brian Gallagher Chris Kowalski Chuck Chmelka Craig Maurello
USA GYMNASTICS September/October 1990
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