USA wins team
titles, sweeps all-around at Junior
Pan Am Championships
Guatemala City, Guatemala,
Nov. 24, 2007 – The USA not only won the men’s and
women’s team titles at the 2007 Junior Pan American Championships in Guatemala
City, Guatemala, but the United
States also swept all three medals in
both all-around competitions. Steve
Legendre of Flower Mound,
Texas, and Mattie Larson of
Los Angeles won the all-around
gold medals
for the men and women, respectively.
For the men,
the USA
handily won the team title with
262.933 points. Brazil was
second at 252.566, followed
by Argentina
at 240.832 in third. The women also
easily outdistanced
runner-up Canada,
177.501 to 168.634. Brazil
was third at 161.634.
The members
of the men’s gold-medal
squad are: Alexy Bilozertchev of
Hilliard,
Ohio; Glen Ishino of Santa
Ana, Calif.; Danell Leyva of
Miami,
Fla.; and
Legendre. John Orozco of
Bronx,
N.Y., is the team alternate.
The members
of the women’s championship team are: Olivia Courtney of
Fairfax,
Va.; Chelsea Davis of Austin,
Texas; Jordyn
Wieber of DeWitt,
Mich.; and
Larson.
The
USA
dominated
the all-around competition. For the
men, they swept the top four places. Following Legendre
at 87.032, Ishino was second at 86.967
with Bilozertchev in third at 86.534.
Leyva was fourth at 85.866. The women also claimed
all three all-around medals.
Larson won the gold
medal with 59.217 points. Wieber was
second
at 59.167 and Davis third
at 58.267. Courtney was fifth at 57.100.
For the individual
event finals, the USA
advanced
two gymnasts for each apparatus per the two-athlete maximum rule. Competing in
the event finals for the men are: floor exercise – Ishino and
Bilozertchev; pommel horse – Bilozertchev and
Leyva; still rings – Ishino and Legendre;
vault and parallel bars – Legendre
and Leyva; and
horizontal bar – Leyva and
Ishino. The women in the event finals are: vault, uneven bars and
floor exercise – Larson and Wieber; and
balance beam – Davis and Wieber.
Based
in Indianapolis,
USA Gymnastics is the national
governing body for gymnastics in the
United
States. Its mission is to encourage participation
and the pursuit of excellence in the
sport. Its disciplines include
men's and
women's artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and
tumbling, and acrobatic gymnastics.
For more information, log on to
www.usa-gymnastics.org.
#
2007 Junior Pan Am Championships
Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Men's results
Team
1. USA,
262.933
2. Brazil,
252.566
3. Argentina,
240.832
4. Colombia,
236.734
5. Mexico,
231.634
All-around
1. Steven
Legendre, Flower Mound,
Texas
87.032
2. Glen
Ishino, Santa Ana,
Calif., 86.967
3. Alexy
Bilozertchev, Hilliard,
Ohio, 86.534
4. Danell
Leyva, Miami,
85.866
5. Petrix
Barbosa, Brazil,
84.334
6. Sergio
Eras, Brazil,
83.165
7. Nicolas
Cordoba,
Argentina, 81.866
8. Fabian
Meza,
Colombia, 81.834
Women’s
results
Team
1. USA,
177.501
2. Canada,
168.634
3. Brazil,
161.434
4. Guatemala,
158.517
5. Mexico,
153.216
Women’s
all-around
1. Mattie
Larson, Los Angeles,
59.217
2. Jordyn
Wieber, DeWitt,
Mich., 59.167
3. Chelsea
Davis, Austin,
Texas, 58.267
4. Christine
Lee, Canada,
58.017
5. Olivia
Courtney, Fairfax,
Va., 57.100
6. Dominique
Pegg, Canada,
55.717
7. Khiunai
Dias, Brazil,
55.050
8. Jessica
Savona, Canada,
54.500