THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310650
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 31 lines
Virginia Beach's Lauri Illy, the nation's second-ranked rhythmic gymnast, gets to shoot for No. 1 this weekend at the U.S. Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Athens, Ga.
For Illy, who trains in Evanston, Ill., it will be her first national championship meet as a senior gymnast.
Illy, 14, placed second in the last two junior national meets.
Preliminaries are today. Individual all-around finals are Saturday, and the top eight finishers will qualify for the Olympic Trials in Boston on June 25-26. Event finals will be held Sunday.
``It's basically the same people I was competing against as a junior,'' Illy said from Athens on Thursday. ``But this year, as a senior, I've got new club and rope routines, and I've made a lot of changes in ball and ribbon. The routines have to be harder.
``In the junior division, there aren't as many requirements.''
Illy received her No. 2 ranking at a meet over the winter, finishing behind defending national champion Jessica Davis of California. Davis is the favorite to win the nationals and also, at the Olympic Trials, claim the only berth the U.S. has in the Olympics.
Illy said she is mainly targeting the Trials, ``but it's not as if I'm going to try less here. Of course, it would be great if I do really good at the Olympic Trials, but I'm going to try really hard in both of them and see what happens.'' by CNB