GYMN-L Digest - 5 Feb 1996 to 6 Feb 1996

There are 11 messages totalling 885 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. North Shore Invitational (jr. notes and scores)
2. CORRECTION: Winter Cup score
3. Kodak/Peachtree Invitational
4. Gymnastics vs. Figure Skating, & other stuff
5. Kristie Phillips
6. Kristie.
7. Junior Olympics
8. GYMN-L Collegiate Update vol. 1, no. 10
9. KRISTIE AND CHELLE
10. USA Men's team for Worlds
11. Kristie

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 20:53:31 UTC-0800
From: ***@CS.UBC.CA
Subject: North Shore Invitational (jr. notes and scores)

[Note for people who have emailed me about this meet and cable coverage.
I have now responded to all of your messages. If you haven't gotten a
response from me, please resend your message.]

I have one other note about the set-up of things for this meet. The
floor mat didn't have much out of bounds area, so at the corners they had
additional corner bits to extend the area.

I saw the end of the Junior Invitational (11 & under) (the meet was
running behind schedule). I only have a few notes from this section. I
was surprised at the number of girls who hit the floor with their feet
when they were swinging under the low bar. Is this a difficult thing to
master or something that nerves/unfamiliar apparatus would greatly affect?
Given the level of skills that these gymnasts were successfully completing, I
was surprised that they were having such trouble with this.

One skill that caught my eye was done by a gymnast from Gymnastics Nevada
(possibly Danielle Rederford, but I'm not sure). She was standing in a split
on the beam with one foot held beside her ear and then she pushed her shoulder
through between her arm and leg and ended up in the split with her foot behind
her head. It looked neat and surprised me.

For the juniors, they broke ties on events by AA score and awarded prizes
for places 1 through 8. The top junior from each event competed in the event
finals. Desiree Marcy of Altadore won the junior vault and Chelsea Plourde of
Nevada won the rest of the junior events. I don't have any scores or other
placings for the junior events.

AA placings:

1. Chelsea Plourde Nevada 36.65
2. Nicole Tyler Nevada 35.90
3. Natasha Gowda Flicka 35.65
4. Desiree Marcy Altadore 35.40
5. Kim Moore Altadore 35.15
6. Lauren Powell Flicka 34.75
7. Kimi Nakatsu Altadore ?
8. Kate Sturdivant Nevada ?

Team prizes were given to the top 3 junior teams:

1. Nevada team A (107.85)
2. Altadore (106.05)
3. Flicka (104.10)

Nevada team B finished in 4th with a score of 98.3. There were only at most 2
gymnasts from the remaining gyms competing in this category.

One interesting thing from the junior award ceremony was that all of the
gymnasts from Gymnastics Nevada who were given an award raised their arms and
stepped forward when that group of award winners was presented to the audience.
None of the gymnasts from any of the other clubs did that.

I'll post notes and scores from the Event finals in a separate message.

Karen

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 08:52:00 MST
From: ***@RMII.COM
Subject: CORRECTION: Winter Cup score

I listed Chainey Umphrey as tied for first on pbars with a 9.50. He was
tied for first, with Richard Grace of Nebraska, but his score was 9.65.

Rachele

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 15:31:34 -0500
From: ***@USAID.GOV
Subject: Kodak/Peachtree Invitational

Sorry for the delay, I need to verify a few items first...

I went to the Kodak Invitational, aka the Peachtree
Invitational, on Sunday, the night the Level 10/Elite athletes
were in attendance. There were 8 clubs competing: Dynamo (they
also had a "B" team), Colorado Aerials, Gym Carolina (NC),
Cypress Academy, Elios Gymnastics (Mexico), Team Central (MO),
Atlanta School of Gymnastics, and Docksiders (MD). Shannon was
there, but she didn't compete. According to the local paper, she
had a sore wrist and was skipping FX only. She did warm up beam
before the competition, but apparently the decision was made to
have her scratch entirely, though she did stick around to sign
autographs later.

Gymnasts of note who did compete were those from Cypress
(Kaitie Dyson, Andree Pickens, Monica Flammer, Melinda Baimbridge,
and Kinsey Rowe) and Dynamo (Mina Kim, Jennie Thompson, Alecia
Ingram, and two others I could not identify due to a shuffle in the
lineup). Although she was listed in the program, Soni Meduna was
not present. Also competing were Emily Chell of Gym Carolina (a
Level 10 vault champion) and Cami Singer of Aerials (Level 10 champ
in 13-14 age group).

With two groups working simultaneously on each apparatus, it was
literally a four-ring circus, but I kept up as best as I could,
though I unavoidably missed more than a few of the routines. I
was directly in front of the beam and close to the FX mat, so
those were the events I mostly kept tabs on; V was the
farthest away (and least interesting), so I pretty much ignored
this event. Here it goes, according to my (admittedly) meager
notes:

Cypress started on BB. Pickens, Flammer, and Baimbridge had minor
breaks here and there and scored in the 9.25-9.5 range; Dyson had
a solid routine (ff ff two-footed layout, back dive 1/4)and the
highest score of the group, a 9.725. She also did an interesting
move *under* the beam...hopefully, it will make the broadcast, so
that you can see it for yourself.

Dynamo A started off on V, and I assume they did fairly well
there---I guess we'll all see how they did when ESPN broadcasts it.
I *believe* I saw Thompson perform a Hristakieva, which seems
likely given the score (9.525). Aerials directly followed
Cypress on beam and were shaky throughout, with only Singer
really hitting her routine (9.475).

Cypress moved to FX, and all of them opened with a full-in except
Pickens, who performed a very high double front. Meanwhile,
Dynamo was apparently hitting left and right on bars, judging from
the noise in that section of the arena. I only saw Mina's
routine in its entirety (same as '95, with a perfect double
layout), but judging from the applause, nobody was having problems.
I missed Jennie's routine, but she received a 9.775 here.

Aerials again directly followed Cypress, and most did fairly well
on FX, though the level of difficulty was lower (all of them opened
with double tucks). Cami Singer again hit with average tumbling
(double tuck mount and double twist dismount) and *very* nice
choreography for a 9.65. One of the girls, Courtney Young, had a
very nasty fall on her neck on her mount, and walked off the mat
crying. Apparently, she was okay since she continued to compete,
but she was extremely upset and in some pain (I saw her icing her
knees during this rotation). I have to note that, aside from this
incident (her teammates were very upset, also), the Aerials were
the happiest bunch on the floor.

Dynamo then went to beam and, predictably, did well. Mina fell on
her ff ff layout and landed low on her dismount, but everyone else
hit with clean routines. Jennie made her big skills (including the
standing full, which she still does perfectly), but had a few
wobbles here and there on simpler moves (such as a straddle jump),
and she "only" did a double tuck dismount. In general, her level
of difficulty here was lower than in '94, but she did score well
(9.8).

Gym Carolina followed Dynamo here, and all of them were consistent,
though their level of difficulty was lower than Dynamo or Cypress.
Speaking of Cypress, I didn't really watch them on V, though I did
see Baimbridge and Dyson each a vault fairly well (a handspring
front and Yurchenko 1.5, respectively).

Cypress then moved to bars. Rowe did her inverted giants
(9.525), and Melinda received her highest score (9.625) with a
solid routine. Flammer hit a great routine (which included a
Markelov) which received the highest score of the afternoon (9.85).
Pickens fell on a release move, which was a surprise because she
showed a good routine in warmups---a Shaposhnikova up to the high
bar, right into a giant full-reverse hecht-Gienger combination.
The fall apparently rattled her, because she then missed her toe-on
1.5 dismount.

I was somewhat disappointed by Dynamo on FX, since they were
clearly milking the code for all it was worth (not that they were
alone---front w/fulls and 2.5 twist-punch fronts were the order of
the day, so to speak). Mina did a code-happy routine for a 9.675,
and Thompson obviously played it safe with her routine. I could
have sworn I saw her open with a double tuck, and her dismount was
a front w/full. She scored a 9.825.

Dynamo A, as you can probably tell, won the team competition, with
Cypress finishing second. Dynamo B finished third, which was
amazing considering that just about *all* of them fell on beam.
Gym Carolina was probably the most consistent team overall (Chell
would have cracked 38.00 if she'd had a cleaner bar routine), but
they also had a somewhat lower level of difficulty. They did,
however, have the *largest* cheering section, even larger than the
Atlanta School of Gymnastics, who also suffered from a lower level
of difficulty. It should be noted that Maria Taylor---not Jennie
Thompson---received the most attention from the crowd, cameramen,
and photographers, as you might expect in a competition held in
Atlanta. She actually did fairly well, and you should see her on
the broadcast (no big surprise there, since she's been in the last
two).

Team Central had a hard time, and Docksiders clearly had the lowest
level of difficulty in this competition; Aerials, aside from
Singer, also had their problems. I didn't watch Elios too often,
but I did note that one of their gymnasts, Denise Lopez, did some
of the hardest tumbling (double layout, full-in, front w/full),
though she only scored a 9.45.

The awards ceremony was *very* hard to follow, but I can tell you
that Thompson won in the 13-14 age category (and overall), and
Flammer won in the 15+ category. Daniela Silivas presented the
awards, and the ladies on the National team set up at a table for
autographs.

Overall, it was a nice competition---not great, but good. It was
easy to tell that Flammer and Pickens were beefing up their
difficulty for the competitions ahead. Thompson was another
matter. She is no longer the bite-sized gymnast you saw in '94,
but is much taller (all of 4'7"-4'9"), and has improved in the form
area. Clearly, though, her routines overall were watered down, so
I suspect we'll have to wait until Classic to see where she truly
stands, gymnastically speaking.

There's my report, such as it is. I was counting on having video
to refer to (no cameras were allowed during the competition), so my
notes weren't as good as I would have liked. No sign of the
beloved Maura Driscoll, but you can bet that she will be one of the
commentators.

------------ge

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 13:45:27 -0500
From: ***@WAM.UMD.EDU
Subject: Gymnastics vs. Figure Skating, & other stuff

I just have a couple of questions:(before I go on a spiel):
1.) I read in a former GYMN edition that their was supposed to be a
broadcast of some Atlanta 1996 Olympic Special at 3:00 EST? Which channel
is that exactly? NBC?, CBS?, or ABC?
2.) Re: figure skating vs gymnastics, I feel that while figure skating is
getting much more popular, I think I'm getting a little bit concerned
that all this publicity might be too much. Figure Skating is a sport,
not just another way to entertain. Many times you hear basketball
players, and other athletes say that "Sport is just a form of
entertainment". While I do agree that is true to some extent, their is
an element in sport, particularly in figure-skating&gymnastics which is
different. Figure skating has started to focus on entertainment
opportunities not only in professional ranks, but also in amateur. I
think the networks glamourize it too much. (Eg. "Too Hot To Skate" &
"Fox's Rock'N Roll Championships".) I hope Gymnastics doesn't go that
route. Please E-mail me back regarding this issue.

3.) I definitely agree with the person who raised the issue about
non-US citizens training here for another country. While I definitely
sympathize with many Russian & Ukranian athletes who come here for the
facilities and to get away from the chaos and turmoil which is going on
over in the former Soviet Union, they must understand that the U.S.
government DOES NOT send the Gymnastics Teams to the Olympics or any
other local, state, national, OR international competitions. Unlike the
former Soviet Union, there was, nor never will be, a government program
for gymnastics or any other sport for that matter. The government does
not "reward" these athletes for every gold, silver, or bronze medal they
earn.
No, the U.S. government does NOT send these athletes to the Olympics.
Americans do.
What do y'all think?
Valerie

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 17:01:51 EST
From: ***@MARISTB.MARIST.EDU
Subject: Kristie Phillips

Looks like a little money can make people say amazing things:

This weekend Kristie Phillips gave a speech at the opening ceremony
of a competition in New York, and among other things, she said how
"fabulous" a sport gymnastics is, what great lessons is teaches you,
and then she went on to describe how she trained with "the INFAMOUS
Bela Karolyi." She said that everyone asks her if he's mean and that
she always says that he's not mean, he's just very demanding and expects
nothing but the best from all his athletes. She then had the audience
give him a round of applause for all of the hard work that he's done for
our country, and for the bad rap that he's gotten from the press.

Hmmmmmm. Think she's reconsidering how bad a sport gymnastics really
is after she cashed the prize money check from Reeses??

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 17:37:50 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: Kristie.

Perhaps she has undergone some sort of therapy and is now comfortable with
the sport of gymnastics as opposed to blaming it for all her shortcomings.

....or, perhaps she just sees dollar signs? Who knows.

Jeff

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 18:26:09 -0500
From: ***@EXPERT.CC.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: Junior Olympics

I have a few questions;
1. How do the girls get the chance to compete in the JO?
2. Is there somewhere that I could find out some information on past
winners/top placers?
3. Is there anyone on the list that is familiar with a gymnast by the
name of Laura Szszpanski from Michigan? (the spelling is most likely
incorrect, she is about 18, she competes in Indiana, high school, she is
a former elite, she held some kind of national title)
Thanks in advance!
Aaron Walters

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 16:26:38 -0800
From: ***@LELAND.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: GYMN-L Collegiate Update vol. 1, no. 10

GYMN-L's Collegiate Update
Volume 1, no. 10
Feb. 5, 1996
_____________________________________________________________________

Contents:

1. IUP vs. BGSU, UW-O (W) report
2. 1996 Cat Classic (W) -- Team and All-Around
3. 16th Cat Classic (W) EF
4. Georgia/Alabama (W) Report
5. Yale Gymnastics (W) reports
6. IUP vs. Cornell (W) report
7. Michigan vs. Illinois-Chicago (M) Results
8. West Virginia vs. Oregon State (W) report

_____________________________________

*****Item number 1.10.1*****

Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 09:48:58 -0500 (EST)
From: ***@grove.iup.edu
Subject: IUP vs. BGSU, UW-O (W) report

<***Editor's note: this somehow got delayed about two weeks on its way
to my mailbox. Sorry.>

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania kicked off their season with a meet vs.
Bowling Green State University and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh last
weekend at Bowling Green. The small rookie squad from IUP improved their team
score by 5 points over their pre-season efforts with very solid performances on
vault (44.8) and floor (45.1). IUP's beam score also improved as the Indians
only counted two falls on beam for a 43.75. Unfortunately, bars continues to
be the nemesis of this year's team and a lack of difficulty led to a 35.8 team
score on that event, for a team total of 169.45. Freshman Georgiana Cunkelman
took second in the All Around with a 36.425 despite an 8.45 on bars.

Final results: BGSU 181.625
Wisconsin-Oshkosh 174.175
IUP 169.45

IUP travels to Rutgers this weekend to compete against that school and the
University of Rhode Island on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. IUP's home opener will be
February 4 when the Indians will host Cornell University at 1:00 p.m. in
Memorial Field House's main gym.

_____________________________________

*****Item number 1.10.2*****

Date: Sat, 03 Feb 96 14:31:34 CST
From: ***@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu
Subject: 1996 Cat Classic (W) -- Team and All-Around


2/2/96
1996 Cat Classic: Team and All-Around Competition
Columbia, MO
Teams competing: University of Arizona
Auburn University
University of Missouri
Penn State University

Last night was the team and all-around portion of the Cat Classic.
Tonight will be the apparatus finals showcasing, not only the top gymnasts on
each event, but SHANNON MILLER! Shannon Miller has been serving as guest
hostess throughout the competition, and apparently tonight she's going to
perform a couple of exhibition routines to test the injury she sustained at the
Kodak Invitational. Last night Shannon was dressed in street clothes and only
handed out awards, but it didn't matter because there were some amazing
performances anyway.

ALL-AROUND:
Arizona's Heidi Hornbeek definitely provided some of the most dramatic
moments throughout the meet. During open warm-up prior to the competition,
Heidi looked to be fighting through a nasty cold, which kept her coughing and
hacking throughout the session. Then, while practicing her piked front vault,
she landed short and appeared to have jarred her back, which seemed to affect
her through her bar warm-up too. When the meet started, her problems continued
when she fell off beam on a layout. However, Heidi fought back with three
fantastic routines (hop-full to Gienger on bars) to win the Cat Classic all-
around title. Second went to her teammate Tenli Poggemeyer, and third went to
Missouri's Chrissy Harkey. :)

TEAM COMPETITION:

1)Arizona- 194.275
I think Arizona has the most exciting freshman class in the NCAA. Kristen
McDermott, Maureen Kealey and Heidi Hornbeek each provided some of the event's
highlights and I'm sure will continue to do so tonight during the event finals.
Arizona started on beam, and only had Hornbeek's fall to contend with. Then
on FX, McDermott did a triple full, Kealey did a double layout, and Hornbeek
did a full-in. Vault was also consistent, but the team really shined on bars.
Kealey cranked a double layout dismount for 9.925, a new Cat Classic record,
and Becky Bowers was a shade behind at 9.9 with a new combo of hop-full, giant
full, Gienger.

2) Penn State-191.325
Penn State had a good meet, particularly on bars. Janae Whittaker showed a
Gienger, cast to handstand, Gienger between the bars (she missed it in the meet
but it looked awesome in warm-ups). Beam and vault caused the Lady Lions a
little trouble, but nothing serious. One interesting thing I noted about the
team, is how similar the team is in appearance. On each event, it seemed,
there was six blonde-haired ponytails in white ribbons presenting themselves
to the judges. This is why my results of PSU's vault is so bad. I couldn't
tell who was who! :)

3) Missouri- 190.550
I am so proud of our team. After a disappointing meet at the Shakespeare's
Festival, the team really showed up well in this competition. This meet was
also the first home meet for freshman Amanda Peterson who, IMHO, is the future
of MU gymnastics. Chrissy Harkey, Charise Schrupp, Jessica Haag, and Jen
Hillman all had the meet of their lives last night.

4) Auburn- 188.100
This team had a rough meet right from the start. Without the services of
Becky Erwin and with Sarah Balogach competing only UB and BB, the team really
relied on Kim Wantanabe and Erin Gannon, and both had a rough time throughout
the meet. Auburn opened on bars with three falls, then moved to beam where
they also had problems (Gannon wound up in a Borden-like position, grabbing
the bottom of the beam, upside-down). The scariest moment occured when
Stacey Newman did a full for her last tumbling pass, and crumpled to the floor
in pain. It seemed like the injured her left leg, but she seemed okay by the
end of the meet. She didn't compete vault, however.

RESULTS:
I managed to get most of the results, but as I said, Penn State was tricky
to identify, so I apologize for the lack of their results.



ARIZONA 194.275 PENN STATE 191.325
VAULT: 48.275 VAULT: 47.300
Kealey 9.475 Huch 9.525
Poggemeyer 9.675 Knox 9.500
Albritton Hoyt
Wambsgans 9.675
Marshall
Hornbeek 9.850 Leopoldus 9.750

BARS: 49.175 BARS: 48.450
Poggemeyer 9.725 Cutshaw 8.600
McDermott Whittaker 9.200
Albritton 9.750 9.800
Hornbeek 9.875 Knox 9.850
Kealey 9.925 Foley 9.750
Bowers 9.900 Leopoldus 9.850

BEAM: 48.275 BEAM: 47.550
Wambsgans 9.575 Cappello 9.700
Poggemeyer 9.650 Cutshaw 9.600
McDermott 9.500 Malinak 9.625
Tierney 9.775 Knox 8.925
Milberger 9.775 Foley 9.700
Hornbeek 9.250 Leopoldus 8.900

FLOOR: 48.550 FLOOR: 48.025
Poggemeyer 9.675 Foley 8.850
McDermott 9.575 Hoyt
Kealey Selz
Wambsgans 9.775 Whittaker 9.600
Tierney Leopoldus 9.650
Hornbeek 9.800 Cappello

MISSOURI: 190.550 AUBURN: 188.100
VAULT: 47.475 VAULT: 48.250
Peterson 9.325 Wantanabe 9.550
Neal 9.100
Harkey 9.600 Spillman 9.525
Emery 9.100 King 9.800
Schrupp 9.750 Gannon 9.675
Haag 9.700 Smith 9.700

BARS: 46.950 BARS: 46.450
McKinnie 8.875 Collins 9.425
Haag 9.200 King 8.500
Peterson 9.500 Newman 9.350
Emery 9.675 Gannon 8.900
Sutter 8.600 Balogach 9.750
Harkey 9.700 Wantanabe 9.000

BEAM: 48.100 BEAM: 46.325
Sutter 8.800 King
Haag 9.500 Smith
Schrupp 9.675 Wantanabe 9.025
Peterson 9.575 Gannon 8.600
Hillman 9.775 Balogach 9.650
Harkey 9.575 Collins

FLOOR: 48.025 FLOOR: 47.075
Emery 9.350 Spillman 9.450
Johnson 9.550 Newman 9.025
Haag 9.700 Collins 8.975
Schrupp 9.725 Wantanabe 9.650
Peterson 8.675 Smith 9.775
Harkey 9.700 Gannon 9.225

ALL-AROUND:
1) Heidi Hornbeek UA 38.775
2) Tenli Poggemeyer UA 38.725
3) Chrissy Harkey MU 38.575
4) Missy Leopoldus PSU 38.150
5) Jessica Haag MU 38.100
6) Kim Wantanabe AU 37.300


_____________________________________

*****Item number 1.10.3*****

Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 22:11:08 -0600 (CST)
From: ***@mail.coin.missouri.edu
Subject: 16th Cat Classic (W) EF

Hello, all...
Tonight's performances ended the 16th Annual Cat Classic, and what
performances they were. However, highlighting the evening was an
appearance by Shannon Miller. Before the meet, she signed autographs for
fans, and midway through the meet, she performed a beam routine to the
music of "I Can Love You Like That." Steve Nunno explained before her
routine that she was going to do one without too much hand-to-beam
contact because of a pulled muscle in her arm. Nevertheless, her routine
was outstanding with a full-twisting double-back dismount to cap off the
routine.
Hers was not the only great performance. After Friday's team
competition when Arizona took top honors over Penn State, Missouri, and
Auburn in that order, tonight's individual competition was fierce. Heidi
Hornbleek of Arizona delivered a near-perfect bars routine with a 9.925.
Heidi, a freshman, was crowned all-around champion on Friday. Also, with
the floor exercise, Missouri's own Charise Schrupp got a 9.8 for an
exciting floor ex. to the music of "Thriller" and "Beat It," by
Michael Jackson.
Here are the scores from the individual competition:

VAULT

1. Genny King - Auburn - 9.825
2. Erin Gannon - Auburn - 9.75
Missy Leopoldus - Penn State - 9.75
4. Darci Wambsgans - Arizona - 9.725
5. Charise Schrupp - Missouri - 9.7
Jessica Haag - Missouri - 9.7

UNEVEN BARS

1. Heidi Hornbleek - Arizona - 9.925
2. Maureen Kealey - Arizona - 9.9
3. Missy Leopoldus - Penn State - 9.825
4. Becky Bowers - Arizona - 9.8
5. Chrissy Harkey - Missouri - 9.775
Sarah Balogach - Auburn - 9.775

BALANCE BEAM

1. Nancy Milberger - Arizona - 9.85
2. Jenessa Collins - Auburn - 9.8
3. Bridget Foley - Penn State - 9.75
4. Jen Hillman - Missouri - 9.625
5. Karen Tierney - Arizona - 9.55
6. Leigh Cappello - Penn State - 9.475

FLOOR EXERCISE

1. Charisse Schrupp - Missouri - 9.8
2. Maureen Kealey - Arizona - 9.775
Tenli Poggemeyer - Arizona - 9.775
4. Leigh Cappello - Penn State - 9.75
5. Chrissy Harkey - Missouri - 9.725
6. Jessica Haag - Missouri - 9.625
Karen Tierney - Arizona - 9.625

_____________________________________

*****Item number 1.10.4*****

Date: Sun, 04 Feb 1996 00:26:51 EST
From: ***@MUSIC.CC.UGA.EDU
Subject: Georgia/Alabama (W) Report

#2 University of Georgia--197.425 (national season high)
#1 University of Alabama--196.125

Vault: (1) Kim Arnold (UGA)--10.00
(2) Julie Ballard (UGA)--9.95
Leah Brown (UGA)--9.95
Karin Lichey (UGA)--9.95

Beam: (1) Arnold (UGA)--9.90
Lori Strong (UGA)--9.90
Stephanie Woods (UA)--9.90
(4) Lichey (UGA)--9.875

Uneven bars: (1) Strong (UGA)--9.975
Lichey (UGA)--9.975
(3) Leslie Angeles (UGA)--9.95
(4) Stacey Galloway (UGA)--9.875

Floor exercise: (1) Leah Brown (UGA)--9.975
(2) Strong (UGA)--9.95
(3) Lichey (UGA)--9.925
(4) Angeles (UGA)--9.90

All-Around: (1) Lori Strong (UGA)--39.75
(2) Karin Lichey (UGA)--39.725
(3) Meredith Willard (UA)--39.25
(4) Kim Kelly (UA)--39.175

As you can see, UGA pretty much dominated the meet. The only
area in which they had trouble was the beam, where they scored a
48.70 after two falls. UGA set a national record with a 49.775 on vault
with the help of Kim Arnold's second 10 in as many meets. Bama didn't
really have a bad discipline; they just didn't have a really good one
like Georgia's vault and floor (49.60). UGA should move to #1 in the
rankings after this meet, but if they don't solve their problems on the
beam they may not stay there long.

<***Editor's nit-picky note: I believe that only scores from the national
championships are officially recognized as records, but I'm sure I'll be
corrected if I'm wrong.>

_____________________________________

*****Item number 1.10.5*****

Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 11:34:26 -0500 (EST)
From: ***@yale.edu
Subject: Yale Gymnastics (W) reports

Yale/Vermont/MIT (Jan. 27, 1995)

This was a good meet because Yale and Vermont are pretty well-matched
teams. Vermont won this one 184.70 to 182.75. MIT was third with 169.975.
Yale unfortunately was without star Anna Mitescu, who injured an elbow
during warmups, and did not field the full six gymnasts on every event.
Yale's downfall was beam, where all but one gymnast fell (a couple had
multiple falls), but they finished with a strong set of floor routines,
showing greater difficulty as well as superior dance training and
choreography (IMO). An eye-catching skill on BB (from a UVM gymnast, I
think) was a fish jump with about a 3/4 turn to punch immediate front
tuck dismount off the side.

Yale vs. UPenn (Feb. 3, 1996)

Yale won big this time, defeating Ivy League rival University of
Pennsylvania 184.425-178.275 (I'm not positive about the tenths; the
scores weren't posted). On paper it didn't figure to be such a big
difference, but Penn had a number of falls on both beam and bars, while
Yale, still without Mitescu, bounced back from last week's beam
disaster. Overall, Yale looked stronger in difficulty, consistency,
execution, and choreography. Where Penn matched them on difficulty (esp.
bars), they lost ground with falls. Probably the most notable skill of
the meet, though, was a triple turn on beam from a Penn gymnast;
unfortunately, she fell (she hit it in warmups, though).

_____________________________________

*****Item number 1.10.6*****

Date: Sun, 04 Feb 1996 18:42:26 -0500 (EST)
From: ***@grove.iup.edu
Subject: IUP vs. Cornell (W) report

On February 4 the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) hosted Cornell
University for IUP's first home meet of the season. It was the first time a
home meet has been held in IUP's Memorial Field House since the program was
dropped in 1992.

The Lady Indians continued an impressive streak of improvements on team score
by defeating Cornell 178.15 to 170.4. This was the first victory for IUP
gymnastics since 1992 and marks a 14 point improvement since IUP's first meet
of the year.

Georgiana Cunkelman had another impressive all-around performance for IUP,
scoring a 37.275 including a fall on beam. She shattered the IUP school record
on floor exercise with a 9.775, after a 9.3 on vault, a 9.15 on bars, and a
9.05 on beam.

February 10 IUP travels to West Chester to take on their only remaining rival
in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference at 1:00 p.m.

_____________________________________

*****Item number 1.10.7*****

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 10:55:38 -0500 (EST)
From: ***@umich.edu
Subject: Michigan vs. Illinois-Chicago (M) Results

Men's Gymnastics
University of Illinois - Chicago vs. University of Michigan

Scores taken from the Michigan Daily:

Team: Illinois-Chicago 222.5
Michigan 210.2

AA: 3. Chris Onuska
4. Flavio Martins

UM Scorers:

V 1. Tim Lauring 9.25
FX 3. Randy D'Amura 9.3
PH 2. Chris Onuska 9.3
R 3. Flavio Martins 9.3
PB 5. Flavio Martins 9.05

_____________________________________

*****Item number 1.10.8*****

From: ***@leland.stanford.edu
Date 5 Feb. 1996
Subject: West Virginia vs. Oregon State (W) report

West Virginia vs. Oregon State
2 Feb. 1996
Corvallis, OR
Attendance: 5,494

Team Total:
1. OSU 194.075 49.175 48.775 47.575 48.550
2. WVU 189.375 48.400 45.825 47.175 47.975

A-A
1. Quackenbush WVU 38.150 9.725 8.850 9.750 9.825
2. Nonnemacher WVU 37.200 9.275 8.950 9.275 9.700
3. Salim WVU 36.725 9.775 8.450 9.500 9.000

VT
1. Snyder OSU 9.950
2. Vassallo OSU 9.925
3. Turko OSU 9.900

UB
1. Runyon OSU 9.925
2t. Droegemueller OSU 9.775
2t. Phillips OSU 9.775

BB
1. Murphy OSU 9.850
2. Miller OSU 9.775
3t. Lauw OSU 9.750
3t. Quackenbush WVU 9.750

FX
1. Vassallo OSU 9.900
2t. Slack OSU 9.825
2t. Murphy OSU 9.825
2t. Quackenbuch WVU 9.825

Random comments:

I can only comment about OSU's performances, since I was at the meet to
cover them, and since I was covering them photographically, these are
not thorough comments.

On vault, OSU threw mostly HS fronts. Megan Murphy started off with a
HS front tuck for 9.6, followed by Amy Slack with a tuck Tsuk full for 9.575.
Danae Phillips scored a 9.8 for her HS front barani out (tuck). The final
three vaulters, Amanda Turko (9.9), Kristie Snyder(9.95), and Anne Marie
Vassallo (9.925) all threw pike HS fronts. OSU's team total was about .2
off of the school record.

I won't go into scoring detail on bars, but I will say that Renee Runyon has
one of the most loaded routines I've seen. She does a Shushunova, then later
does a Shushunova from a wrong-way giant. The poster and T-shirt both
feature a photo of her in the middle of this release move. (A photo which
I missed, BTW.)

The Corvallis newspaper called OSU a runaway train for most of this meet
but called beam a train wreck. Turko led off and fell on the last layout
of her series. She apparently caught a finger on the way down but managed
to finish the routine, albeit with a grimace on her face. She had to
scratch from FX, leaving OSU with no all-arounders. (X-rays are planned
for today.) Megan Bert and Deanne Droegemueller followed up with falls of
their own, but Nathalie Lauw and Murphy had solid routines. Randi Miller
had a close call in the anchor spot, but she managed to stay on to keep
OSU's beam score above 47.

I generally tend not to be of much use for reporting floor exercise, since
tumbling is most often the distinguishing feature, and I am generally
changing cameras during the tumbling passes. Sorry folks.

_____________________________________

The "GYMN-L Collegiate Update" is a twice-weekly collection of news on the
collegiate gymnastics scene. Back issues may be found on the Web at
HTTP://www-leland.stanford.edu/~poser/GCU/ or by anonymous FTP to
ftp.cac.psu.edu (directory /pub/gymn/Collegiate-Update).
To make a submission to the _GYMN-L Collegiate Update_, send email to
***@leland.stanford.edu (NOT directly to the GYMN-L list) with
"Collegiate Update" or "GCU" in the subject header.
Please send any replies, comments, or suggestions to the same address.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 19:10:18 -0600
From: ***@UALR.EDU
Subject: KRISTIE AND CHELLE

I know this is going to bring nothing but gripes to me, but I have to
say it. I agree with a few other people about Kristie and Chelle. Don't get
me wrong I enjoyed their gymnastics very much, and was a huge Kristie Phillips
fan. However, if you're going to bad mouth the sport one minute, don't make a
buck off of it the next. They seem to like gymnastics when it benefits them,
but point fingers and complain when that benefits them. I think they did that
throughout their careers too. (When things went good they were all smiles, and
when things went bad then they were unhappy.) Okay, now to the part where
everyone is going to yell at me. (First of all, I'm not talking about anorexia
or bulemia. They are both serious and sad illnesses, and I hope that their
existence in the gymnastics world are few and far between.) I am talking about
people who complain about their coaches, namely Bela Karolyi. I admit that I
am a huge fan of his. So when his former gymnasts talk bad about him it
irritates me. I imagine that he can be mean. His coaching tactics are very
different from most American coaches. He was raised and trained differently.
I'm not making excuses for him, but I will say that when someone moves to train
with him they either know before hand or find out soon after how he is. Most
choose to stay because he is the best, and he can take them places that many
coaches can't. By choosing to stay they accept his coaching style, no matter
what it might be. They aren't stuck, but to win they accept everything that
goes along with it. So, what I'm saying is - Take it and be quiet or get out.
(Don't worry, I'm ready for all the hate mail I'm going to receive.)

Britney

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 21:48:37 -0700
From: ***@RMI.NET
Subject: USA Men's team for Worlds

The USA men's team for World Championships has been announced. The
members are:

> Garry Denk
> Steve McCain
> Chainey Umphrey
> Bill Roth
> Mark Sohn
> Chris LaMorte

Rachele

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 23:39:56 -0500
From: ***@GROVE.IUP.EDU
Subject: Kristie

I've noticed that a lot of people are very upset that Kristie "bad mouthed"
Bela and gymnastics and later went to compete and win money and even stand in
front of a crowd and have them applaud Bela for everything he has given to the
sport.

It may be a money thing, but maybe not. She may have finally realized the good
things that the sport had given her and it took her time to mature and realize
it.

Deb


------------------------------

End of GYMN-L Digest - 5 Feb 1996 to 6 Feb 1996
***********************************************