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The junior womell's competiti~n topk plac~' on August 14 ana 6 at McNichols 'Arena in ' Denver, Colo. The jUr:1iors ~~mp€ted tW~ rQunds .' of optional ail-aro';!ra.Cl (;;ompetition to de~rmine the national team 'antl all-around cHampion: After day one of competition, Hill's Angels' ; Elise Ray, from Columbia, Md., led the pack with = a score of 36.987, followed closely by <;ypress' ; Marline Stephens, from Houston, Texas, Viith a ~ 35.825, and Cincinnati's Sierra Sapunar, from ~Sebastopol, Calif., with a 35.212. After day two of competition, 15-xear-old ~ Stephens, coached by Debbie Kaitschuck and . ~ Deana Parish, pulled ahead of her competi~ tors to take the all-around title with a score of . 71 .062. Stephens clinched the competition on • her last event, vault, scoring a 9.012, the third hi~hesf score of the meet o~ this event. •
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Coach Kaitschuck said, '''I was real . ' th~ comeback story of the event. Nagle, impressed with the competition tonight. I •• coached by Bill and Donna Strauss, Jack thought the difficulty looked much better Carter~ John Holman and Robin Netwall, tonight than Wednesday. I think we' re all broke her back on a reverse hecht in early headed in the right direction ." March 1997. She was put in a cast and, Sapunar, 15, scored a 9.50·on her last •• under Dr. Larry Nassar's direction, began a conditioning and rehabilitation program. event, fl oor, to secure the secon d pIace position. Sapunar moved from 12th· oil-around Coach Donna Strauss said, 'We didn't at fhe 1997 U.S. Classic to second <lit the . even expect her to compete in this event but .National Championships .• She said,· "It felt things .were going so well in practice that we roollx good to finish so high. t ve worked' so .' decided to give it a try. We were proud of her r:na~ 'hours and it's finally paying .off. It b~s 'for i ven comp~ting and then she finished beer.l my goal to move into the internatiQ al sixth all-a'rou.nd. I'm tickled pink." rank of competition and I' m very eXGited." !1 ill 's Angels Erinn Dooley, from Gaithers.Cypress' Kristin Thome (p'roriounc~ IGE- ' . bur\!l, Ma , took seventh in the all-around. may) took third in the all-around . ;.'lith a Dooley/ l5, has very innovative moves like' a • 70.474. Thome, 14, was more nervous about punch double front dismount off of the beam : going to the press conference than doing her and a front flip with a half twist over low 'bar • triple full dismount on floor. She said, "I'm for a mount. • really happy with my performance." She also The younger Thome sister, Brittany, fin;. commented on her younger sister Brittany ished ninth all-around, falling from fifth after '.;"1 who finished eighth in the competition by saythe J::>reliminar~om[leti!ion ,~ Brittan~L3 ,------.:.J -ing, "We're very competitlve bUTwe're also ad problems on bars which knocked her ;. b~st friends! " down in the.r.ankings. ~. Ray, coached by Kelli Hill, dropped one Aoother talent~ Brittany, this one from Cin. trom . preliminaries to fin ish tourth allcinnati Gymnastics and coached by Mary Lee around . She had an outstanding preliminary Tracy, took ninth all-around. Thirteen-year old competition but scored more than a point less Brittany Smith, whose hometown is Houston, , during finals due to also suffered some difficulties on bars some difficulties on ." " hi '1 ' '12·:' k ' . R 15 ' • • Cypress As ey MI es, , too an Impresb-" ors. hils a .. sive 10th all-around ' in her first National ver Y pOdls e gym- • Championships. From the scores, one can see nas t t adn I shfOWS . a that vault and floor are Ashlefs' best events. • grea ea 0 pOise . . '.. . and maturity. . Rounding out the Nalional Team Included: , M I' d Marvateens' Alexis Maday from Frederick, Md. iY'prbs~d he Ih (coach Gary Anderson); American Twisters' alb r ~e~ w of a • Morgan White from Coconut Creek, Fla. Ck a ~nlurYh ~o~ . ~(cooc~ Tim bnCl Toni Rand); Parkettes' Sheehan Oc~ e; 9;~ugh ~ Lemley from lrlelJertown; Pa.; Capital's Monique em t er , °k't Chang from Fairfax Station, Va ., (coach a. ~ rhonffj .comlie ac dO Tatia~a Perskaia); Acros' Breasha Pruitt from fIn IS itth a -aroun. Hen derson, Ky. (coac h Peter zh ao an d J uI'Ie B . b'd 14 ' aim. r\1 ge, , IS Harrison); Gym Nevada's Annabeth Eberle, especla ~ strohn g on from Reno Nev. (coach Derrick ream w ~re e P~II Moellenbeck); Ricoch~t's Stephanie Carter °~mtsl af stanhlnhg d from Bryn Athyn, Pa., (coach Troy Miler, Janet tw IS . n ac, k'II sea Hamvas an d sh en. J0 hnson )., Dy namo's J uI'Ie filth· d . a a on f ISIS I dunni] Pigg from Edmond, Okla., (coach Marc TatS a sli Hottenstein and Shannon Horn); also from I or Irs on eam. Dynamo's Audra Fraim from Eclmond, Okla.; Parkettes' Carri and Hill's Christy Ray from GerflJantown, Md. Nagle, 14, has to be Event Fin·afs results areJisted on page 31.
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S EPTE M BER / OCTOBER
1997
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GYMNASTICS
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