GYMN-L Digest - 29 Apr 1996 - Special issue

There are 15 messages totalling 614 lines in this issue.

Topics in this special issue:

1. Event finals at Men's NCAA Champs
2. Gym Photos on Usenet
3. Floor choreography and music (2)
4. Daniela??
5. Dianne Durham
6. Jenny Hansen's Vault (2)
7. Stephanie Wood's Bars Routine
8. NCAA comments (M)
9. Introduction
10. WAG: FX music and et al. (2)
11. MAG: V at Worlds in PR
12. NCAA comments (M) (fwd)

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Date: Sun, 28 Apr 1996 20:27:00 MDT
From: ***@RMII.COM
Subject: Event finals at Men's NCAA Champs

1996 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships
Event Finals
April 27, 1996
Palo Alto, California, at Stanford University

The last day of competition at the NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships
was yet another day of record-breaking performances for several schools.
There are many stories that came out of this three-day competition,
such as:

+ Ohio State's team victory: their first in over ten years, the first
of an East region team since 1989, and a win that sealed their
ranking as the premier men's gymnastics team in the USA. Additionally,
their four invididual titles (AA, PH, SR, PB) is the most success that
a team has had since 1984, when UCLA won the team title and those same
four individual titles.

+ The emergence of California-Berkeley: in only five years as their
head coach, Barry Weiner has brought this team to 2nd in the nation.
Seemingly every time they mounted the apparatus at the Championships,
a new individual or team record was set.

+ Blaine Wilson, henceforth known as "The Rock" by those who attended
this meet: of 16 routines, his only significant error was in vaulting
finals. He is the first gymnast since 1985 (Wes Suter-Nebraska) to
earn three individual titles (AA, SR, PB).

More "record breakers" can be found at the end of this report.

Floor finals
----------------------------------------------------------
Ian Bachrach (Stanford) achieved his best floor score ever to win
this title, a 9.913. (They rounded the numbers up at this meet.)
Any one of Bachrach's passes would be the highlight of most other
gymnasts' routines. First pass: whip, 1.5 twist, layout front full,
dive. Second pass: whip, immediate Arabian double front (reach up,
fall to prone). Side pass: punch front, punch front. Last pass:
whip, immediate full-in, with the slightest of hops.

Jay Thornton (Iowa), the 1995 floor champion, competed a front layout,
front layout, front layout full; tucked Thomas (very good); and a
somewhat different last pass of punch front through to double twist,
punch front. Second place, 9.863.

Highlights from other competitors:
Shannon Welker (3rd) -- punch front, punch front 1 and 3/4, 9.825
Joe Roemer (3rd) -- double layout dismount, 9.825
David Kruse (5th) -- nice Manna ("show it off!") press to handstand,
9.813
Jeremy Killen (6th) -- punched a running layout Rudi, 9.788
Casey Bryan (7th) -- Arabian double front mount (a little bit off
throughout his routine), 9.70
Jamie Ellis (8th) -- tucked Thomas to straddle leap to stomach, but
generally loose form (for Stanford), 9.475
Jason Christie (9th) -- put his hands down on his full-in dismount,
but nice V press to handstand, and a stuck full-in
for his second pass, 9.25
Don Kinison (10th) -- had to fudge or sit on almost every landing except
his double tuck, punch front dismount, 8.775

Pommel finals
----------------------------------------------------------
I hope someone else from Gymn can comment on pommels finals, as I
am simply unable to write anything significantly intelligible about
this event!

Drew Durbin, 1st -- long one pommel sequence, flairs traveling side-
ways down the horse, including some with his
hands outside the pommels, dismounted with flairs
up to handstand. Very aggressive. Seemed to have
one well-covered *slight* bobble...?, 9.875
Kendall Schiess, 2nd -- also significant one pommel work, a slower
rhythm than Durbin, 9.85
Marshall Nelson, 3rd -- high scissors, good rhythm, 9.825
Greg Gebhardt, 4th -- very straight torso, elevated hips, very fast
worker, flat feet, 9.738
Jeremy Herman, 5th -- ditto on the straight torso and high hips, also
very quick, hit his feet on the horse once to
receive a 9.713
Kenny Sykes, 6th -- lots of one pommel work, slower rhythm but very
consistent, long routine, 9.638
Casey Bryan, 6th -- interesting move in the middle of his routine;
since it was somewhat different, I really have
no clue!, 9.638
Mike Finn, 8th -- don't know why he scored only 9.613, as his routine
was very long and, to my untrained eye, well-
executed
Darren Elg, 8th -- like Durbin, flairs with hands outside the pommels;
significant pause on handstand, short routine, 9.613
Keith Wiley, 10th -- came off twice, 8.55

Still Rings
----------------------------------------------------------
The first co-champions of the night, with Scott McCall (William and
Mary) and Blaine Wilson (OSU) both scoring 9.825. McCall's routine
included an L-cross to inverted cross, L-cross pull-out, and stuck
full-in dismount. Wilson began with a Maltese push to planche and
also included an L-cross pull-out, a front giant, and double twisting
double back dismount (hop).

Five of the eight rings competitors stuck their dismount.

Other highlights:
Ted Harris, 3rd -- L-cross to Maltese; shaky L-cross pull-out;
stuck double layout, 9.80
Bryan Fox, 4th -- L-cross to Maltese to back lever (not sure about
that last strength move); L-cross pull-out;
full-in (hop), 9.775
Dave Eckert, 5th -- Maltese press to planche; L-cross to Maltese;
full-in (hop), 9.763
Chris Camiscioli, 6th -- Olympic style cross to his left; handstand
lower to invert, giant (picked up swing), lower
to invert, full-in stuck, 9.7
Ofri Porat, 7th -- invert, swing to invert, bounce iron cross;
full-in, stuck, 9.613
Aaron Cotter, 8th -- L-cross pull-out, lower back to L-cross;
struggled back to handstand on a giant; full-in,
stuck, 9.60

Vault
----------------------------------------------------------
Jay Thornton and Ian Bachrach must have planned this year's finals
in advance. Last year, Thornton won floor and Bachrach won vault.
This year, not only did they switch titles, but Thornton took 2nd
on floor and Bachrach took 2nd on vault. Both Thornton and Bachrach
were the only two vaulters to use variations of Yurchenkos, and neither
stuck their landings. Thornton vaulted a Yurchenko 1.5 twist, and
took a step forward, for a 9.613. Bachrach also took a step on his
vault, a Yurchenko, half twist to horse, half twist off to back
layout, 9.55.

I'm only slightly better at identifying vaults than I am at pommels,
so if anyone else on Gymn can comment, please do. The only other
thing I can really say is that Keith Wiley took big steps on his
Kas-double full (9.175), while Blaine Wilson crashed his layout front
Rudi out for a 9.075. I believe that Jeremy Killen vaulted a Kas-1.5,
3rd with a 9.538. Whatever it was, he took a hop on the landing. ;)

Blaine appeared to injure himself on his vault landing, limping
back to the seating area and for quite some time after that. Walking
back after the vault, Wilson told assistant coach Miles Avery that he
was finished for the day, so I was very surprised when his turn
came for pbars and he continued.

Parallel bars
----------------------------------------------------------
Well, it was a good thing that Blaine continued as he won his
third individual title on parallel bars, tied with Jamie Ellis of
Stanford with a 9.75. Wilson, who travels almost the entire
length of the pbars on his Tippelt, put consecutive Stutzs to
one bar into his finals routine, both Stutzs visibly held on
the one bar before shifting back to two bars. Jamie Ellis used
consecutive giant fulls to claim his share of the pbars title.

Jay Thornton, 3rd -- consecutive Stutz's to one bar, a bit too short
on the hold; double front; Maltese; double
pike, 9.738
Trent Wells, 4th -- Tippelt, two back tosses, the "freak" (forward
swing to completely vertical and extended
handstand without releasing the bars), double
tuck dismount with two or three steps, 9.70
Jason Christie, 5th -- Diamadov to one bar, glide jam, twice (the
first one was a bit crooked), stuck double
pike, 9.65
Andrew Mason, 6th -- Watanabe ("half Healy, half Diamadov" per his
coach. I know no other way of explaining it!),
9.613
Tom Ellefson, 7th -- consecutive Stutz's to one bar, not held long
enough, stuck double pike, 9.488
Hugh Lau, 8th -- some very interesting mount, not sure what it was
but looked like some sort of immediate shoot
to handstand, 9.375
Aaron Cotter, 9th -- came off on a Diamadov to one bar, steps on
double pike, 8.35

High bar
----------------------------------------------------------
The surprise victory of the night, Carl Imhauser used wrong-way
Endos, multiple hop grip changes, a smooth Tkatchev, and a stuck
double layout for a 9.875. Cal's David Kruse competed a very
popular set that included an exciting release sequence of in-bar
toe-on layout Tkatchev to Gienger. He also had a smooth jam to
inverts, and a stuck full-twisting double layout dismount for a 9.85.
His start value was only a 9.9, however, as he omitted his second
wrong-way in-bar Endo to pirrouette when the first one went
over the top of the bar, and so he had to fall into a Stalder.
(Note, yesterday I said that Kruse did a Hindoorf-Gienger, which
is completely incorrect as the Tkatchev is unquestionably out
of a toe-in, NOT a free-hip.)

Kruse tied with Ian Bachrach for 2nd, this being Bachrach's third
top-two finish of the night. Bachrach's routine included a
full twisting front giant, a Tkatchev to Gienger, and somewhat
bone-jarring double twisting double tuck dismount.

With eleven finalists on this event, making All-American was not
an easy task!

Blaine Wilson, 4th -- wrong way Endo full; huge piked Tkatchev,
Tkatchev; pirrouetting one arm giant;
double full-in dismount, hop, 9.838
Drew Durbin, 5th -- completely laid out inverts, double double
laid-out, 9.813
Jason Christie, 6th -- also laid out inverts; full-twisting
front giant, 9.775
Darren Elg, 7th -- Tkatchev-Gienger; almost broke on a pirrouette;
double double tucked, stuck, 9.725
Shane Evangelist, 8th -- back uprise full twist to front giant
(I think!); one-arm giant, again to Gienger
(close to the bar); double double laid-out
that was about three hairs away from the bar,
9.65
Greg McGlaun, 9th -- missed his second Tkatchev (consecutive), stuck
his layout full-out dismount, 9.15
Peter Hegi, 10th -- missed his first Tkatchev, remounted and successfully
executed his Tkatchev-Gienger sequence; step on
his double layout, 9.125
Josh Birckelbaw, 11th -- attempted a full-twisting layout Tkatchev
but missed (this was the first time he attempted
it in competition); remounted to easily toss a
layout Tkatchev (despite cheers from the Cal
crowd to try the full-twisting version again);
crashed his double double laid out for an 8.5.
His shrug and smile at the end were amusing. ;)

Random information
-------------------------------

+ Scott McCall is the first NCAA Champion in the history of William
and Mary gymnastics. He is a non-scholarship athlete.

+ David Kruse is the first four-time All-American from Cal since 1968.

+ Distribution of All-American spots at this Championships:

Ohio State, Stanford, Cal, Iowa, 7 each
Oklahoma, Nebraska, 4 each
Temple, 2
Penn State, New Mexico, BYU, Illinois-Chicago, 1 each

+ Individuals with multiple All-Americans at this Championships:

Four
-------
David Kruse, Cal
Blaine Wilson, OSU

Three
-------
Ian Bachrach, Stanford
Jay Thornton, Iowa

Two
-------
Casey Bryan, Oklahoma
Jason Christie, Nebraska
Drew Durbin, OSU

+ If the NCAA still used five-man scoring (i.e. dropping only one
score from each event instead of two), the team finals ranking
would have remained the same... but Ohio State's winning margin
would have been only .125.

Yours in Gymnastics,
Rachele

# # #

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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 05:53:49 -0700
From: ***@NETCOM.COM
Subject: Gym Photos on Usenet

The following Usenet newsgroups have JPGs from San Juan and Comaneci's
wedding:

clari.sports.photos
clari.sports.others

In order to decode the images, you'll need a program called "munpack,"
which is available for DOS, Mac and Unix. All instructions can be found
in the articles.

Debbie

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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 09:46:00 EDT
From: ***@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Subject: Floor choreography and music

I too think that the Romanian's get a bad rap for their floor
choreography. Just looking at the finals in San Juan, I think that
Gogean's choreography suits her very well. But another point is often
overlooked--music selection. The Romanians do not usually choose good
music--with the exception of Gogean's current routine. They seem to
choose music from the country where the big competition will be held,
kind of kissing up. I don't know.

I think that Milosovici could really dance if she had music...I don't
know what's up with her collage of 10,000 American tunes...and it moves
so quickly, she can't get into a dance style appropriate to the music
because it's only for 5 seconds. But if you remember 1991 and 1992, I
think Milosovici showed how she could work with a decent music
selection, and just imagine how much better she could be now with
maturity and good music!

Another thing--I did not like Kui's (sp?) floor routine at all. Whoever
said there was too much tumbling was right. But, it was more that it
was too much EASY tumbling (i.e. front tumbling). She showed a
beautiful double layout but didn't do diddly after that. And her's was
another case of bad music. The quality was bad, and the fact that it
simply got faster and faster towards the end made me want to have a
nervous breakdown. Plus, for all their artistry on beam, the Chinese do
not have good dance on floor, aside from their leaps. Most of the time
their choreography is just cute (Mo, Kui, etc.) and this also holds true
for their gymnast (memory failing me) who won the silver on floor in
Sabae.

But, to look at something good with floor, the French women are
absolutely breathtaking with their choreography. For such young girls,
they really feel the music. The music is good, but their interpretation
is what makes it sparkle. They must be doing something right--every
French woman is a wonderful dancer on floor but none have the same
styles.

One more thing--I don't like Moceanu's floor routine--to me it just
seems like Zmeskal rehash. Oh well. Sorry for going on, I'd love to
hear what all else think.

Joy

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 09:50:00 EDT
From: ***@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Subject: Daniela??

One more little quick thing--I've noticed this before, but no one
besides GYMN would have really cared. In the tape of Nadia's last
performance in Romania (1984), there were a lot of people standing
around her as she spoke and cried. A tiny little gymnast stood behind
her during this...Daniela Silivas. She would have been really young, at
most 14 but with the whole spiel of the Romanian's ages she was more
likely 12. If any of you have this on tape (the coverage has been shown
for EVERY Nadia special) look and you'll see.

Also, I remember watching a TV movie about Nadia's life. Does anyone
remember what it's called, or where I can get it? It was sometime in
the early 80's.


Joy

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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 10:01:26 -0400
From: ***@EAGLE.LHUP.EDU
Subject: Dianne Durham

Dear Gym fans:

There has been a lot of discussion of the great Diane Durham lately. For
those of you who are newer to this sport, I would like to remind everyone
how great an athlete she was. Diane was always neck and neck with
Marylou Retton and I am positive that if she had been allowed to compete
in Los Angeles she would have medaled many times over. Do yourselves a
favor and get some old tapes of her. She was a powerhouse!

Julie

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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 10:04:57 -0500
From: ***@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU
Subject: Re: Floor choreography and music

The Chinese gymnast in Sabae was Ji Liya (or Li Jiya?) and I agree
about the choreography. However, there are some really nice Chinese
routines out there, or so I've heard, including a few to ballet that
are exquisite...

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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 09:57:11 -0700
From: ***@SEATTLEU.EDU
Subject: Jenny Hansen's Vault

I noticed that Jenny Hansen did a handspring front with a full twist
in the NCAA's. Does anybody know what that is worth in regular elite
gymnastics and if anybody does that vault?
Corrie

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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 12:31:39 -0500
From: ***@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU
Subject: Re: Jenny Hansen's Vault

The vault is worth a 10.0 at the elite level, and notables (that I
can remember) are USA's Vanessa Atler and Romania's Alexandra Dobrescu.
I know there's at least one more person, but I can't rmeember her.

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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 13:36:52 CDT
From: ***@PROCTR.CBA.UA.EDU
Subject: Stephanie Wood's Bars Routine

ALABAMA'S STEPHANIE WOODS: stalder, handstand on low bar, stalder, nailed a
double-pike landing, only release move is a bail to handstand on low bar but
still has a 10.00 starting value -- 9.975
---------------------------------------------
Stephanie Woods has 2 release moves, her first stalder is a
stalder-hop to reverse grip. It counts as a release move and is a D
element.
Routine:
Facing out, jump to high, cast-hand, back stalder-hop to reverse
grip, front giant 1/2, giant-turning uprise to hand, bail to
handstand on low, glide kip to high, cast-hand, back stalder, giant,
double pike.
She hit every single handstand!! The routine flowed smoothely.

Shawn
***************ROLL TIDE ROLL***************

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 14:40:39 -0400
From: ***@PHARM.MED.UPENN.EDU
Subject: NCAA comments (M)

Hello everyone:

Well, I was at Stanford, but did not see much of the actual gymnastics,
sitting behind the computer doing results is not the most condusive job for
watching the meet. From the crowd, the reports, coaches, judges, and most
importantly athletes this meet will be remembered for EXCITING GYMNASTICS!!
Personally, I must say, that I have never been on the edge of my seat
during a team competition from the first routine, but when the lowest score
being counted in the first rotation was a 9.60 (OSU on Rings, Cal on PH,
and Stanford on FX [9.7]) you know it is going to be close and exciting.

For the injury, alluded to by Texx, Brandy Wood of Penn State during
prelims, missed on a Geinger with the right side of his body being entended
(for the re-catch) and the left side of his body pointing toward the floor,
a strange picture, but if you think about it, a perfect set-up for -- if
you miss the bar the left arm coming down in the wrong position which
created a very nasty break in the radial of his left forearm. It looks
like a cast for three months. Brandy came out of Gold Cup in New Mexico a
very promising Junior and really helped Penn State achieve its successes in
the past four years, especially last year (1995) with their third place
position at NCAA's.

After this meet, especially the performances by the individuals attempting
a berth on the olympic team, if these guys have half of the team spirit for
the US that was exhibited here by these collegiate athletes the US will do
a spectacular job of making their home country very proud!!

We now know that Blaine Wilson is capable of a 58.85, and with his regular
PB routine it is entirely conceivable that he could go 59.00 + Another
guy you should be very aware of is Casey Bryan, member of the 1994 World
Championship team. His shoulder is definitely better, and his gymnastics
is just getting better all the time.

enough ramble -- if anyone is interested in other details concerning the
meet please feel free to contact me.

Mayland

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 16:11:01 -0400
From: ***@CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Introduction

Hi! I guess I will hop on the bandwagon and add my intro to the others.

My name is Melanie, I'm 26 and the assistant coach for the women's
gymnastics team at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Cornell reinstated
its program 2 years ago and I was lucky enough to quit my airline job and
get back into the world of gymnastics, which I missed tremendously!

So, obviously I am a huge fan of gymnastics! I began gymnastics at the age
of 3 in Tallahassee, FL with the Tumbling Tots, went to Tumblebee's (when
Tim Rand was there) in Ft. Lauderdale, then to ISG with John Locurto. Upon
moving to GA - I went to Chattooga where Doug McAvin - now one of the asst.
coaches at UGA - coached, then on to Gwinnett Gymnastics Center with Dan
Thaxton, and then on to NC and the Geminis!!!!! So, needless to say I have
been around.... I finished out my career in college at Radford University.
I truly miss the workouts (which I still do occasionally) and the
competition.

Since subscribing last week, I have read posted messages from all age
groups and backgrounds which is great! The postings on the collegiate
nationals - men's and women's - were pretty thorough, and honest! In lieu
of the way men's gymnastics has gotten the shaft, I thought I would do a
plug real quick for the club - the Cornell men's team was dropped in '92
but they have just started a men's club team this year!!! The alumni have
come together and donated money to get equipment into the gym for the guys
- so for those of you guys out there who want an Ivy League education and
want to do gymnastics.... think of Cornell!

I hope to add to this forum and I will continue to promote gymnastics on
the collegiate level - there IS hope for female gymnasts over the "old" age
of 15!

Thanks for listening....

Melanie

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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 16:02:04 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: WAG: FX music and et al.

I had to ask this: Was the MUSIC that the Ukrainian gymnast used similar
to Potorac's old chirpy bird music?


BTW: When she stood to start the routine, I swear she looked like Pods.


As for Milo, she just didn't look into it. Gogean looks 'into' her routine,
and that Spanish gymnast's music was just to fast for me. The best routines,
in my opinion have a broad selection of paces. Some fast, some slow, and
the gymnast alters her movement with the music. It seemed to me that
during those floor finals, the gymnasts were just doing skills and using the
music as back ground.


Jeff

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 16:03:19 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: MAG: V at Worlds in PR

wWhen they showed the champ (Nemov) vaulting, I swear it looked like
he twisted on the board to do the half turn. Isn't that a deduction?


Jeff


Dina, Dina, Dina.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 17:27:22 -0400
From: ***@FURMAN.EDU
Subject: Re: WAG: FX music and et al.

On 29 April 1996, Jeff wrote:

>Was the MUSIC that the Ukrainian gymnast used similar
>to Potorac's old chirpy bird music?

I could very well be wrong, (feel free to correct me!), but I think that
music was used by Elena Sazonenkova (sp? - as always) of the Soviet
Union. Remember her? I seem to recall that music from the '89 USA/USSR
Dual Meet. Maybe Potorac used it at one time also...

Amy

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 17:20:54 -0600
From: ***@RMI.NET
Subject: NCAA comments (M) (fwd)

" We now know that Blaine Wilson is capable of a 58.85, and with his regular
" PB routine it is entirely conceivable that he could go 59.00 + Another

Just felt obligated to point out that the 58.85 was with a 9.3 scoring
base -- not the 9.0 FIG scoring base. So it's hard to say what he is
capable of with normal rules. Suffice it to say that he was
outstanding.

Rachele

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 29 Apr 1996 - Special issue
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