1995 J'UNIOR OLYMPIC GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS The 1995 Junior Olympic Group F~:;:"'~lIi.' Championships for rhythmic gymnastics was held October 14-15 in San Francisco, Calif. Sixteen groups participated in this second annual event. Each group competed the ball event twice on Saturday and once on Sunday. The two scores from Saturday were averaged and added to Sunday's score for the total. ADVANCED DIVISION (from Ito r): Creative Gymnastics II, In the Novice division for level 6-7 Houston Illusions I and Creative Gymnastics III. gymnasts the local host, Scherba's Sports Center, was leading after Day 1. However, an inspired performance on Sunday by Creative Gymnastics III , coached by Wuling Stephenson, pushed the group from Oregon into first place. Scherba's finished second, and California Academy III was third.
Michelle M cElroy Larsen , dominated the competition to finish in first place. Creative Gymnastics II and Creative Gymnastics III took second and third respectively.
Current National Champion, Jessica Davis was in attendance and presented awards to the top three groups. The competition was closed with entertainment by Russian circus performers. Igor and Svetlana Scherba, local hosts, are to be commended for organizing a great event.
Competition was also exciting in the advanced division w hich consisted mainly of athletes levels 8-10. Several current National Team members including Melissa McElroy, Liriel Higa and Diana Quirin performed with their club's group. The strongest groups, however, were the groups which demonstrated the most synchronization and clean execution . Houston Illusions I, coached by former USA World Championship Group member
USA Gymnastics will be introducing the Compulsory new (developmental) Group Routines on April 21-22 in the
Baltimore/Wash ington D.C. area following the Junior Olympic Championships. This workshop will teach the fundamentals of group technique along w ith the routines. Future Rhythmic Group events wi ll include both compulsory and optional routines, allowing the coach to decide which category her group gymnasts best fit. Further information about the Group Workshop w ill be published in Technique magazine or you can call Nora Campbell or Paula Hilliker at 317-237-5050.
RESULTS NOVICE
1. Crealive GymnasliCl I
14.625 Colsey Billner, Kelly McDonald, Brenna Quigley, Taro Sullivan 2. Scherba's Sports Cenler 14.600 Helen Dreymon, Olga Kosovo, Rita Krivenko, Moria Leonovo, Yono Stolyorov 3. California Academy III 12.275 Elizabeth lebeiion, Brillany Johnson, Julio Manasson, Victoria Petrovsky ADVANCED
1. Houslon Illusions I
NOVICE DIVISION (from Ito r): Scherba's Sports Center, Creative Gymnastics I and California Academy III.
17.200
Lauren King, Natasha Lojevsky, Melisso McElroy, Megan Speer 2. Crealive GymnasliCl II Taya Campagna, Heather Eskridge, Kim Miller, Abby ThWing 3. Crealive GymnasliCl III Julene Newlin, Diona Quirin, Jaime Rainbolt, Trisha Wiltbank
16.225 15.675
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