INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Nov. 3, 2009 – 2009 U.S. junior all-around champion Rebecca Sereda of Staten Island, N.Y., headlines the U.S. Junior Team that will compete in the 2009 Junior Pan American Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Havana, Cuba, Nov. 10-15. The four-woman team from World Rhythmics in Jacksonville, Fla., will compete in the group competition at the Junior Pan Am Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, which serves as the Americas’ rhythmic gymnastics qualifier for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
Joining Sereda, who trains at Isadora, are Polina Kozitskiy of Fountainville, Pa./Philadelphia Rhythmic Academy; Alexis Page of New York City./Aviator Sports and Recreation; and Megan Kincaid of Los Angeles/California Rhythms. Sereda won the junior all-around title at the 2009 Visa Championships, as well as top honors in hoop, ball and clubs. She also won the junior all-around, rope and hoop titles at the Chicago Cup, an international competition that made its debut in 2009. Page was the silver medalist for hoop at the Visa Championships. The junior group, all of whom are from Jacksonville and World Rhythmics, includes Alexandria Acree, Camille Guidry, Alexa Horn and Kaylee Ward. Both the individual gymnasts and the World Rhythmics junior group were selected based on performances at the selection camp.
Expected to send athletes to Pan-American Junior Championships are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, Puerto Rico, United States and Venezuela. The competition schedule is: Nov. 12 – team and individual all-around (2 apparatus) and general group competition; Nov. 13 – team and individual all-around (2 apparatus) and general group competition; and Nov. 14 – individual and group apparatus finals. The team and all-around champions will be determined on Nov. 13. The rounds on Nov. 12-13 also serve as the qualifying rounds for the individual apparatus finals, where the top eight rhythmic gymnasts (with a maximum of two per country) on each apparatus advance to the individual event finals, with the top groups advancing to their finals as well. A maximum of two countries will qualify for individual rhythmic gymnastics and one group for the Youth Olympic Games.