Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 7, 1990 TAG: 9007070267
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TONY STAMUS SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Karon Gymnastics of Burke swept the top three places in the all-around competition and 11 of the first 12 spots overall in the 9-10-Elite open class at Cave Spring High School.
Katie Jennings, who won the balance beam, took the all-around gold medal with 38.150 points. Teammates Jenna Karadbil, first in floor exercise and the vault, and Kerry Ragans, first on the uneven bars, were second and third, respectively, in the all-around.
Christie Epperly of the Roanoke Academy of Gymnastics was the only local gymnast to break the dominance with a fifth-place finish overall. Epperly's downfall was a shaky performance on the uneven bars.
Milan Stanovich, the Karon team's coach for the past seven years, has developed a powerhouse. His top elite gymnast, Kristin Duff, is not competing at the State Games. Duff, 13, is in Minneapolis for the U.S. Olympic Festival.
"The basic goal [for these girls] is to make national competition or higher," Stanovich said. "We have so many kids that it is their motivation to stay with their friends. Everybody pushes each other."
All the 9-10-Elite gymnasts will compete tonight in the team final at Cave Spring, and the top seven all-around competitors in today's Level 8 Open class will round out the 32-gymnast field.
Karon's team in Manassas also had a good day in Level 7. Elizabeth Brooks won the all-around with 35.450 points, followed by teammate Leah Washington. The bronze medalist was Talitha Green of Tatas in Dumfries.
Hope Spivey, a 1988 Olympian from Newport News who will attend the University of Georgia, presented the gold medals.
The State Games, with medal competition scheduled in 29 events, run through Sunday at venues around the Roanoke Valley. More than 4,100 athletes are competing, and competition will continue today in 27 events.
In other events Friday:
The hottest team was Karon Gymnastics, but 12-year-old Mary Elsass had perhaps the most surprising victory of the day.
The shooter from Poquoson defeated older, more experienced opponents to win the gold medal in women's air rifle, squadding. Tina Duke of Hayes won the silver and Latoya Jones of Lynchburg took the bronze.
Elsass, who also won the women's rifle standard three-position event Thursday, is believed to be the youngest open-competition winner so far in the State Games.
Roanoke's Terry Ashby, representing the Tidewater Bicycle Association, easily won the gold medal in the grueling 100-kilometer licensed men's race for cyclists 19 to 29 years old.
Ashby, 21, who just graduated from Colorado College, broke away from the field with six miles to go and finished first by more than a minute. His time was 2 hours, 51 minutes, 30 seconds.
Squires Richmond rallied for a 93-83 victory over the Piedmont All-Stars in the open boys' basketball tournament at Carter Athletic Center.
Jo Jo Chambers led the winners with 27 points. Odell Hodge, a rising junior from Laurel Park High, had 24 for Piedmont.
Other local winners included the Roanoke Hawks and Roanoke Patriots in 15-and-under boys, Glenvar-Salem in the 13-and-under boys and Roanoke Stars in the 13-and-under girls.
Three of the top seven seeds lost early-round matches in the men's open singles division in tennis at various sites.
Second-seeded Alan Cannaday, a former player at Virginia Tech from Roanoke who won last week's Star City Championship, fell to Greg Woodford of Roanoke 6-1, 6-0 in the second round; No. 4 John Barker lost to Erik Simanis of Lexington 6-4, 6-4 in the first round, and No. 5 Steve Phillips of Salem dropped a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 decision to Vaidas Cikotas of Alexandria in the second round.
Raissa Remandaban of Roanoke, among the favorites in the girls' 16 singles, did not compete.
The West team defeated the South 15-2, 15-2, 15-3 in volleyball as Tammy Ingram of Franklin County High served 12 of the possible 15 points in the third game. Ingram also had four aces overall and five kills.
Other events getting under way Friday were handball, racquetball, roller skating, soccer and table tennis. Events scheduled to begin today are bowling, badminton, golf, judo, karate, powerlifting, road racing, soap box derby, synchronized swimming, track and field, water-skiing and wrestling.
by CNB