DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Aug. 30, 2013 – Hunter Brewster and Alexi Shostak, both of Lafayette, La./Trampoline and Tumbling Express, won the senior men’s synchronized trampoline title at the 2013 Stars and Stripes Cup at Daytona Beach’s (Fla.) Ocean Center. The Stars and Stripes Cup features competition in men’s and women’s trampoline, tumbling, synchronized trampoline and double mini-trampoline and serves as the final selection event for the U.S. World Championships and Age Group Competition Team. The U.S. Teams for the World Championships, scheduled for Nov. 7-10, 2013, and the World Age Group Competition, Nov. 13-17, will be announced on Sunday, Sept. 1. Both the World Championships and World Age Group Competition will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Brewster and Shostak won the men’s title handily, posting a total score of 129.100. Noah Orr of Phoenix, Ariz./Air Sports Unlimited, and Mitchell Dewey of Walker, Mich./For the Kidz Gymnastics and Trampoline, were second with 113.900 points, followed by Jeffrey and Steven Gluckstein, both of Atlantic Highlands, N.J./ETA, at 102.400. There was not a final for senior women’s synchronized trampoline.
Going into the finals on Saturday, the leaders after the preliminary rounds for the senior elite competition are: trampoline – Steven Gluckstein and Deana Parris of Burtonsville, Md./Fairland Gymnastics; double mini-trampoline – Ryan Roberts of Ramona, Calif./So Cal TTC, and Erin Jauch of Crystal Lake, Ill./Fox Valley Tumbling and Trampoline; tumbling – Austin Nacey of Braidwood, Ill./TwistStars Tumbling and Trampoline LTD, and Cheyenne Kelley of Broken Arrow, Okla./Oklahoma Extreme Tumbling.
The senior elite competition schedule for the finals is: women’s trampoline at 5:30 p.m., women’s tumbling at 6 p.m., men’s double-mini at 7 p.m., men’s tumbling at 7:30 p.m., and men’s trampoline and women’s double-mini at 8 p.m.
In addition to the junior and senior elite levels, the Stars and Stripes Cup also includes athletes in Levels 8-10 and the Olympic Development Program. The senior elite level will have preliminary, semifinal and final rounds. The Olympic Development Team will be named after the conclusion of the Stars and Stripes Cup.
The local organizations assisting with the hosting and staging of the Stars and Stripes Cup are the Central Florida Sports Commission, the Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Daytona Beach Ocean Center.
Trampoline events involve athletes using trampolines that can propel them up to 30 feet in the air, during which they can perform double and triple twisting somersaults. Tumbling utilizes elevated rod-floor runways that enable athletes to jump at heights more than 10 feet and execute a variety of acrobatic maneuvers. For the double-mini competition, the athlete makes a short run, leaps onto a small two-level trampoline, performs an aerial maneuver and dismounts onto a landing mat. Trampoline was added to the Olympic Games in 2000, and at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the USA had its first athlete in history advance to the finals.