SGA News

SGA's Advanced Recreational/Optional gymnasts showed strength across the board at the big Monkey Madness meet March 6th.The Advanced girls took 3rd place in the team awards.  Madison Brunette won AA for ages 9 and under.  Elena Fowler won AA for the 10 year olds with the second highest AA in the entire meet! Chloe Loreen took 1st on vault and 3rd AA. Sonia Rao took 2nd on bars, 5th in AA. Rachael Ueda took 1st on bars, 2nd on floor, 3rd on balance beam and 4th in AA.  Qingyu Onouye took 4th on floor. Way to go girls. Great job on your 2009-10 season

Elena Fowler -- our only 10 year-old -- was first in her age group with a 37.075 all-around. Chloe Loreen captured third in the 11 year-old division with a 34.975 while Murienn James was 9th with a 33.35.

It took a 37.05 to win the 12 year-old division and Alexis Morgan came in with a 33.65 for 7th, while Qingyu Onouye was 10th with a 33.65. In the 13 year-old division, Rachael Ueda took a strong second with a 36.1 (wow!) and a high score of 9.425. In 14 and up Sonia Rao hit a 36.275 (wow again!) (against a first place score of 38.15) for fifth in her division. That was a tough group so congratulations Sonia!

It's heartening to see this strength because a couple of the Rec/Op team's strongest girls transferred to the Junior Olympic program this year -- a loss that's been ably picked up by the rest of the team. Plus, the other gyms are moving kids out of Junior Olympic and into Rec/Op, giving their Rec/Op teams many seasoned competitors. Hopefully the league stays "recreational," but it will definitely get tougher no matter what.

Both the compulsory and optional girls has a strong meet at the Evergreen Classic in Eugene, Oregon, March 5th, 6th and 7th, taking a team second (Level 4's), Third (level 5's), a secnd (Level 7's). Zoe McNeil was first on bars in the Level 8 competition and Breanne Buren completed her first full meet taking third on beam. We're still not large enough team to compete for team awards at 8-9-10 but we're working on it!

Highlights for the Level 4's were (beside the team's placement) : Grace Perrin first on Vault, third on Bars; Anu Domingo first on Vault; Claire Perrin second on Bars; Olivia Ladesma third on Vault, third all around; Judy Celovski first on Bars; Masami O'Malley First on Vault; Sofia West first on Bars, 3 on Floor; Grace Lutack first on Beam; MandelynRisley-Smith 3 on Bars; Morgan Tucker second on Vault.

The Level 5's did a fantastic job. Everyone hit their routines! (Which hardly ever happens!). And we needed that since we don't have many Level 5's. So, they were the third place team with Amalie Ratliff taking first on vault, Kate Leary first on beam and third on floor; and Maddie Kim winning third all-around and second on beam.

Level-7: Second Place Team! What a meet Julie Huang had: second on Vault,Bars,and Beam; first on Floor; and  second all around. Wallis Boram was second on Beam as well as third all around; Tani Hayashi second on Bars, third all around; Lancy Huang second on Beam third all around. We sorta owned the podium there.

Another high point: Our top gymnast, Level-10 Madison Kratzke, competed for the first time this year and for the first time after snapping a ligament last year. Though she didn't place, she did the judges award for the most beautifull lines on Bars. She's made a tremendous comeback and we plan an article on her soon.

PICS of the meet will be posted as soon as Karla shoots them to us!

SGA's eight Level 7 gymnasts combined a wide variety of scores to put together a 110.725 team score and ace out Elite Gymnastics by .375 for third place at the Spirit of the Flame Challenge in San Jose February 27th. SGA was just .4 less that second place Westside Gymnastics but 3.425 behind host squad West Valley Gymnastics which took first in every event. Highlights were SGA's second on bars and second on beam with fourths in vault and Floor.

Julie Huang led the way with a 37.425 and a tie for first on bars with a 9.5 while Zoe McNeil was second in her division with a 36.65 all-around and second on vault. Wallis Boram also finished strongly in her division with a 36.6 all-around and thirds in bars, beam and floor.

Overall, the girls scored wel before the tough national-level judges: Lancy Huang (35.175); Areal Good Voice (35.125), Tani Hyashi (34.85), Margaret Long (34.025) and Kim Kramers (33.325).

Below is a shot of George getting ready for the dismount. I can't make out who the gymnast is... Anyone?

-John

The early birds among the teamsters made it to San Jose last night (Thursday) on a completely full Southwest flight. John and Barbara were cagey: they signed in early and got on the plane first to get their seats but Wallace, Breanne and Addie didn't use the online check-in!!! Ummm..... they were like 297th out of 300 boarders, I think!!! But they DID get on!

We didn't get a chance to go into town together -- we had to rent a car and they took a cab [How can three girls have twenty pieces of luggage?] Thankfully, the San Jose Marriott turned out to be nice -- except they charge for internet! That's just NOT right!! Free the Internet!! On lthe other hand, the hotel is right next to the meet site, the local convention center.

This is so different from when my girls were competing. Back then, we all traveled together in a huge mob of kids and parents. What fun! It was like a giant three-day party.... Well, hopefully, everyone will be here tomorrow and ready to rock. Stand by for updates.