INDIANAPOLIS – Elise Ray (Columbia, Md.) used top-10 performances on the uneven bars and balance beam to take ninth in the individual all-around competition at the 1998 Jianlibao China Cup International Gymnastics Tournament, being held this weekend in Tianjin, China.
Ray, the reigning USA champion on uneven bars, scored a 37.637 to place the highest of the six American athletes in the event. Jennie Thompson (Cincinnati, Ohio) was 20th and Jeana Rice (Longwood, Fla.) was 32nd as the USA women finished the team competition in seventh place. On the men’s side, Jason Gatson (Mesa, Ariz.) was 12th, Sean Townsend (Houston, Texas) 14th and Jay Thornton (Augusta, Ga.) 25th as the USA men’s squad placed fifth. The host Chinese swept virtually every medal, with the lone exception being the bronze in men’s team competition, which went to Belarus.
The competition concludes today with individual event finals. For full results, log on to USA Gymnastics Online, the official website of USA Gymnastics, at http://www.usa-gymnastics.org.

Women’s All-Around (top 10)
1, Rao Meizhen, China 2, 38.512. 2, Xu Jing, Tianjin, 38.375. 3, Kui Yuanyuan, China 1, 38.325. 4, Ling Jie, China 1, 38.287. 5, Liang Yan, Tianjin, 38.237. 6, Huang Mandan, China 2, 38.050. 7, Elvire Teza, France, 38.012. 8, Liu Xuan, China 1, 37.900. 9, Elise Ray, Columbia, Md., 37.637. 10, Risa Sugawara, Japan, 37.225.

Other USA Finishes: 20, Jennie Thompson, Cincinnati, Ohio, 36.275. 32, Jeana Rice, Longwood, Fla., 34.350.

Men’s All-Around (top 10)
1, Huang Xu, China 1, 57.800. 2, Zhao Sheng, China 2, 57.725. 3, Yang Wei, China 1, 57.575. 4, Lu Yufu, China 1, 57.175. 5, A. Kasamatsu, Japan, 56.925. 6, Li Xiaopeng, China 2, 56.600. 7, Isao Yoneda, Japan, 56.525. 8, D. Kaspiarovich, Belarus, 56.025. 9, Xiao Junfeng, China 2, 55.175. 10, Alexei Sinkevitch, Belarus, 55.150

USA Finishes: 12, Jason Gatson, Mesa, Ariz., 54.400. 14, Sean Townsend, Houston, Texas, 54.050. 25, Jay Thornton, Augusta, Ga., 52.600.

Women’s Team
1, China 1 (Liu Xuan, Kui Yuanyuan, Ling Jie), 114.512. 2, China 2 (Peng Sha, Huang Mandan, Rao Meizhen), 113.737. 3, Tianjin (Wei Jingjing, Liang Yan, Xu Jing), 112.949. 4, France (Nelly Ramassamy, Elvire Teza, Alexandra Soler), 111.749. 5, Japan (Risa Sugawara, Eri Okumoto, Yuki Ohata), 109.762. 6, Australia (A.M. Vallence, Brooke O’Brien, Melinda Cleland), 109.024. 7, United States (Jennie Thompson, Cincinnati, Ohio, Elise Ray, Columbia, Md., Jeana Rice, Longwood, Fla.), 108.262.

Men’s Team
1, China 1 (Huang Xu, Yang Wei, Lu Yufu), 172.550. 2, China 2 (Li Xiaopeng, Zhao Sheng, Xiao Junfeng), 169.500. 3, Belarus (D. Kaspiarovich, A. Sinkevitch, V. Roudnitski), 165.300. 4, Japan (A. Kasamatsu, Taku Saito, Isao Yoneda), 164.925. 5, United States (Jason Gatson, Mesa, Ariz., Jay Thornton, Augusta, Ga., Sean Townsend, Houston, Texas), 161.050. 6, Germany (Sergei Pfeifer, S. Kwiatkowski, Tschernitschek), 160.000. 7, Romania (Florin Popa, Rares Orzata, Vasilie Cioana), 158.150. 8, Canada (Richard Ikeda, A. Jeltkov, Kris Burley), 157.900. 9, Switzerland (Dider Rehm, Martin Fuchs, Martin Weibel), 153.650. 10, Sweden (M. Rosengren, Michael Hjorth, A. Petersson), 152.200. 11, Denmark (R. Brandtoft, Kasper Fardan, Tue Lodahl), 151.750. 12, DPR Korea (Pae Gil Su, Kim Chang Gyu, Kim Hyon Lu), 147.975. 13, Bulgaria (V. Vezchev, D. Peitchev, H. Ivanov), 123.300. 14, Tianjin (Dong Zhen, Han Zhi, Dong Qiang), 103.000. 15, Thailand (A. Unchai, Sattra Suwansa, Saran Suwansa), 91.950.