Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 13, 1992 TAG: 9202130405
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB McLELLAND CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WINNING GYMNASTS CARTWHEEL THE LENGTH OF THE U.S.
Kelli Newcomb's parents "got tired of me doing cartwheels in the living room and messing up the walls," so they enrolled her in gymnastics classes.The lessons apparently are paying off. Newcomb, a 15-year-old freshman at Franklin County High School, recently won the all-around title in the Aloha Gymfest Invitational in Kaneohe, Hawaii.
The victory helped Newcomb's Roanoke Academy of Gymnastics team to finish second in the meet against 20 other teams from the United States, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Canada. The Roanoke team scored 103.35 points in the four events, less than a point's difference from the 103.75 of the championship team from Philadelphia.
This weekend will see Newcomb and her teammates - Anne Cho, Jennifer Pelton, Erin Lester, Courtney Onufrak, April Southern, Lori O'Dell and Dawn Turpin - competing in a Valentine's Day invitational meet in Virginia Beach.
Team members also scored well enough in a sectional meet in January to qualify for state competition. On March 28 and 29, Newcomb, Turpin, Southern and O'Dell will compete in the level 9-10 state competition in Richmond. This level is next to elite, where Olympic hopefuls begin.
Lester, Onufrak, Pelton and Emily Winnett, who rejoined the team too late for the Hawaii trip, will compete at level 8 of the state championship on April 4 and 5.
The girls' trip to Hawaii was their biggest as a team, said Barbara Jirka, head coach at the Roanoke Academy. Lisa Mason, who has been working with most of the girls since 1987, is the team's coach.
The girls were nervous when they first arrived to warm up at the gym in Hawaii. "Once they got on with the training, they felt a little bit better. After getting a feel for the gym and warming up a little, they seemed a little relaxed," said Mason.
The girls have been working together about 1 1/2 years as a team, and the academy felt that the invitational meet in Hawaii would be a good gymnastics and life experience for them, Mason said.
Team members sold candy, accepted donations and used their Christmas gifts of money for the trip to Hawaii.
Newcomb made her best showing in the floor exercise when she scored 18.1 points to place third. She was fourth in the vaulting and fifth in the uneven bars and the balance beam.
"I was excited about winning all-around; it was my biggest thrill in gymnastics," she said. "But I was just as excited when our team finished second."
Jirka was just as excited. "We went over there just hoping to make a good showing for our team and state. But when Kelli won all-around, and our team finished second by only .04 of a point, well, that made everything all the greater. Our girls did a great job, and we are proud of them all."
Lester, a 13-year-old at Cave Spring Junior High School, said the competition was thrilling, but she also enjoyed touring and seeing the sights, especially Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor.
The team has a rigorous schedule. Members practice routinely at the academy three hours a day, Monday through Thursday, and compete on the weekends. Several of the girls live outside the Roanoke Valley. Newcomb lives in Franklin County; Southern and O'Dell are both 16-year-olds from Pulaski County High School; and Turpin, also 16, attends Radford High School.
The schedule doesn't bother Lester, whose goal is "to make the 1996 Olympic team. I know it will take a lot of hard work, but it will be worth it."
Onufrak went against doctor's orders when she started gymnastics. "I have rheumatoid arthritis, and my doctor said it would be best if I didn't compete," she said. "But I enjoy it so much, I just can't quit." When she tires, however, she does take breaks to keep her legs and joints from swelling.
Onufrak, who started gymnastic classes at age 4, said she feels OK now and hopes to continue the sport in college.
Pelton moved to the area several years ago from Virginia Beach, where she started the sport. She competed on the defunct Cave Spring High School team as a sophomore. "I really don't mind the school not having a team," she said. "I get all the competing I want with Roanoke Academy."
This is her first full season of competing after being sidelined two years with an ankle injury. "But all the time I couldn't compete, I was thinking about gymnastics. It is something I really enjoy and love. I sure hope I can get good enough to earn a college scholarship."
Cho, a 17-year-old at Cave Spring High School, doesn't plan to continue gymnastics in college. She's been competing about 12 years, and "I have really enjoyed it all but 12 years is long enough.
"I began it all when my mother could see that I was sort of hyper and needed something to keep me busy. It did a lot for me, teaching me self-confidence and all," Cho said.