The women's Level 10 Junior Olympic Nationals are this weekend in Long Beach, California. In addition, USA Gymnastics is holding the JO National Invitational Tournament, an event intended to give broader exposure to athletes who missed qualifying to Nationals. This is a massive recruiting opportunity, as the vast plurality of college-bound athletes come from the Level 10 ranks. College recruiters will be lined up to watch how the athletes handle the pressure of a National-level, high stakes competition. Fans will be able to see how their signed and committed future athletes perform. Check out who to look for this weekend in our preview below.
RIC's gymnastics program has a two year reprieve according to a news article. The decision to eliminate the program has been reversed for the time being. The administration will reevaluate the program at the end of the extension period and make a decision concerning it's future.
Rustam Sharipov has been named Head Coach for Ohio State's men's team. Sharipov, an Olympic and World gold medalist, competed for Ukraine. He coached at Oklahoma for six seasons.
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San Jose State has signed Dannon Gregory and Alyssa Montalban for 2011-2012, according to a school release.
Gregory is a L10 who trains at the Phoenix Gymnastics Academy (PGA). At the 2011 Region 1 L10 Regionals, she tied for 9th AA. She finished 21st AA at Regionals in 2009. See her videos at her YouTube.com channel.
Montalban is a L10 from Byer's Elk Grove. The Stockton native placed 17th AA at the 2011 Region 1 L10 Regionals, Sr. C. In 2010, she was 3rd AA and 3rd(t) on VT at the Level 9 Western Nationals. See her videos at her YouTube.com channel.
Link: SJSU Release
Louis Levine has been named Head Coach at Rutgers, according to a school release. He served as an assistant under retiring Head Coach Chrystal Chollet-Norton for the last three years.
Link: Rutgers Release
At the Men's JO Nationals, Event Champions were crowned on Sunday. Here's the winners for Men's 16-18 (school in parentheses):
FX: Trevor Howard, Hocking Valley, 15.55
PH: Craig Hernandez, Buffalo Grove, 15.05
R: Mike Wilner, GymSpot, 15.65 (Illinois)
VT: Howard, 16.5
PB: Adrian De Los Angeles, SCATS 15 (Michigan)
HB: Jesse Glenn, SCATS, 14.6
Link: Results
Here are results from the Level 9 Western Nationals. Congratulations to all the competitors. We're showing the Top 8 (due to fewer age groups at Western Nationals compared to Eastern Nationals) of the senior divisions.
Senior D
1. Sydney Hinton, Auburn, 37.075
2. Kellie Amano, South Coast, 36.875
3. Andrea Perea, Brown's, 36.65
4t. Emily Goldeman, Flyaways Gold, 36.55
4t. Rachel Heckroth, Roach, 36.55
6. Melanee Pfautz, Twin City, 36.525
7. Paige Bottano, AGA, 36.45
8t. Christina Navarro, Texas Dreams, 36.25
8t. Kinsey Aherne, New Hope, 36.25
Senior C
1. Danielle Landry, Auburn, 37.6
2. Amanda West, Auburn, 37.375
3. Tasha Del Pozo, Leading Edge, 36.975
4. Abigail Stanley, Desert Gymcats, 36.95
5. Rain Sullivan, Gymfiniity, 36.7
6. Carole Gong, Club Champion, 36.675
7. Kylie Greenlief, Champion, 36.625
8. Ashley Elser, River City, 36.575
Senior B
1. Chelsi Hamilton, Top Flight, 37.9
2. Jeia Villacis, Leading Edge, 37.5
3. Kiana Gordon, Pacific West, 37.475
4. Lexi Tenenbaum, Gleason's, 37.425
5. Jaimyn Timboli, National, 37.375
6. Alisa Bogdan, Gymcats, 37.3
7. Madison Rich, Auburn, 37.225
8. Nicole Larkin, Mid-Columbia 36.825
Senior A
1t. Emily Robbins, National Elite, 37.6
1t. Angela Rogers, Texas East, 37.6
3. Emily Liddle, Airborne, 37.45
4. McKenna Stanley, Aerial Athletics, 37.3
5. Schyler Jones, Achievers, 37.275
6t. Courtney Spitzer, SCEGA, 37.25
6t. Alana Polfuss, Twin City, 37.25
7. Briana Ledsma, Aerial Athletics, 37.225
Link: Results
Congratulations to the athletes! Here are your top four in each of the Senior levels:
Senior 8
1. Teresa Ciambrone, Olympia 36.925
2. Stephanie Schuler, Ocean Tumblers, 36.875
3. Emily Kelley, Georgia All Star, 36.85
4. CiCi Talcott, Twistars, 36.775
Senior 7
1. Telisa Brown, Elite, 37.45
2. Anna Brandmeier, Ultimate, 36.8
3. Kaitlyn Reszkowski, Action, 36.75
4. Katie Golden, Gym Plus, 36.6.
Senior 6
1. Taylor Cortis, Oakland, 37
2. Sydney Boudreau, Oakland, 36.9
3. April Flood, Legacy Elite, 36.825
4. Megan Peters, Wright's, 36.45
Senior 5
1. Anella Anderson, Central Bucks, 37.6
2. Victoria Heath, Skyline, 37.525
3. Kelsey Thomas, Euro Star, 37.15
4. Marylynn Clark, Apollo, 37.025
Senior 4
1. Caroline Fitzpatrick, Arena, 37.6
2. Krystin Chiellini, Golden City, 36.925
3. Mary Claire Cron, Queen City, 36.875
4t. Selena Swanger, Hanover Family YMCA, 36.825
5t. Cassidy Robinson, Twistars, 36.825
Senior 3
1. Julianne Dugas, Ocean State, 37.475
2. Lauren Sloan, Capital, 37.275
3. Marissa DeAngelo, Gym Revolution, 37.075
4. McKenzie Foster, Maple City, 37.025
Senior 2
1. Julia Konner, Apollo, 37.475
2. Amber Hill, All Star, 37.35
3. Anya Olson, Oakland, 37
4t Hannah Redding, AGA, 36.85
5t Faye Lawrence American 36.85
Senior 1
1. Kaylee Dowell, Shooting Stars, 37.5
2. Rachel SLocum, Sonshine, 37.45
3. Kelsey Hood, Olympica 37.425
4. Izabella Broberg, Arena, 37.4
Link: Full Results
Michigan-bound Adrian de Los Angeles won the AA title in the Men's 16 to 18 year old division at the JO Nationals. Sean Melton won the Men's 14-15 division. Coming in 2nd in the older division was Jake Martin, while Michigan-bound Stacey Ervin was 3rd.
Here's the Top 10 finishers, including their school choices:
1 Adrian De Los Angeles, SCATS, 176.15 (Michigan)
2 Jake Martin, Orlando Metro, 175.35
3 Stacey Ervin, Mills USA, 173.15 (Michigan)
4 Jesse Glenn, SCATS Gymnastics, 173.1
5 Trevor Howard, Hocking Valley, 172.1
6 Jonathan Deaton, Daggett's 171.85
7 Nicholas Hunter, Gym World, 171.3 (Michigan)
8 Brian Knott, Chelsea Piers, 171.15 (Stanford)
9 Donnell Whittenburg, Ultimate (MD), 169.8
10 Kanji Oyama,SCATS Gymnastics, 169.550
Link: USA Gymnastics Release and Results
Recruits and recruitables were in action this weekend for the Men's JO Nationals. Results and video will be posted as they become available. From the preliminaries, the top 36 men advance to the AA final.
In the team competition, Region I won the team title in both age divisions. SCATS won the club team title.
Here are the preliminary AA standings for the 16-18 year old Men (Future College in Parenthesis):
1 Jesse Glenn SCATS Gymnastics 87.95
2 Jake Martin Orlando Metro 87.55
3 Adrian De Los Angeles SCATS Gymnastics 87.35 (Michigan)
4 Stacey Ervin Mills USA 86.55 (Michigan)
5 Jacoby Rubin Buffalo Grove 86.45 (OU)
6 Trevor Howard Hocking Valley 85.85
7 Michael Strathern Bartlett 85.55 (Michigan)
8 Joseph Peters Parkettes 85.30
9 Kanji Oyama SCATS Gymnastics 85.20
10 Brian Knott Chelsea Piers 85.05 (Stanford)
Links:
Illinois has appointed Kim Landrus Head Coach. Landrus served as Interim Head Coach this season. She replaced Bob Starkell, who resigned last summer. Landrus has been with the team's coaching staff for nine years.
Cal has named NU Associate Head Coach Danna Durante as the new Head Coach for the reinstated Berkeley program. She was National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2007, and West Region Assistant of the Year in 1999 and 2002. Prior to nine years at NU, she was at Washington. As Danna Lister, she was a star athlete at ASU and as an elite National Team member and Olympic Trials participant from the state of Oklahoma.
Link: Cal Release
Beth Deal, L10 at Gymniks in West Virginia, will join the WVU team next fall according to a news article. Deal placed 4th AA at this season's Excalibur meet and Battle of the Champions. She won the beam title at the Girl Power Invitational and picked up vault titles at Battle of the Champions and Luau in Leos. She placed 9th at Regionals.