INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., March 22, 2007 – Fourteen trampoline and tumbling gymnasts, including five of the seven 2006 U.S. champions, were named to the U.S. Team that will compete in the World Cup USA, April 1-2, at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y. The majority of the athletes will also compete in the World Cup Canada in Quebec City, Que., April 6-7.
“We are excited that fans in the United States get this opportunity to see the nation’s top trampolinists and tumblers square off against a field that is expected to include the world’s best,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics.
Highlighted by 2006 U.S. trampoline and synchronized trampoline champion Chris Estrada of Lafayette, La., the 2006 U.S. champions on the squad are: Kalon Ludvigson of Cedar Lake, Ind., men’s tumbling and double mini-trampoline; Amanda Bailey of Sundown, Texas, women’s synchronized trampoline; Erin Blanchard of Lafayette, La., women’s trampoline and synchronized trampoline; and Leanne Seitzinger of Stafford, Va., women’s tumbling.
Along with Estrada, Bailey and Blanchard, the members of the trampoline team for the World Cup USA are: men – Logan Dooley of Lake Forest, Calif., Steven Gluckstein of Atlantic Highlands, N.J., and eight-time U.S. trampoline champion Ryan Weston of Chubbuck, Idaho; and women – Brittany Dircks of Orland Park, Ill.
In addition to Ludvigson and Seitzinger, the members of the tumbling team for the World Cup USA, include: men – Chris Adair of Lubbock, Texas, and Jeffrey Brown of Lee’s Summit, Mo.; and women – Yuliya Hall of Idaho Falls, Idaho, Susannah Johnson of Roanoke, Va., and Kaitlin Tortorich of Mandeville, La.
Coaches for the World Cup USA are Dmitri Poliaroush for trampoline, and Jon Beck and Sergio Galvez for tumbling.
Hosted by the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), the World Cup USA is the first event in the 2007-08 World Cup series and counts toward qualification for the 2008 World Cup Final. The competition format consists of three events: the Olympic discipline of trampoline, synchronized trampoline and tumbling. The qualification round for all events is on April 1 at 10 a.m., and the final round is on April 2 at 5 p.m.
These athletes, with the exception of Tortorich, are also scheduled to participate in the World Cup in Quebec City. Amy McDonald of Cedar Lake, Ind., is expected to compete on the tumbling team, and Poliaroush and Tara Guidry will coach the U.S. Team in Quebec City. A double mini-trampoline competition will be held in conjunction with World Cup Canada. Athletes assigned to that event are: men – Stephen Raymond of Grand Rapids, Mich., Derek Stangel of Rockford, Iowa, Josh Vance of Rockford, Mich., and Ludvigson; and women – Aubree Balkan of Carlsbad, Calif., Kaci Barry of San Diego, Calif., and Alaina Williams of Amarillo, Texas.
Estrada is a two-time U.S. trampoline champion (2005-06) and three-time U.S. synchronized trampoline titlist (2004-06). Most recently, he defended his 2006 Winter Classic senior elite trampoline title by winning this year’s event. In international competition in 2006, he won a silver medal in trampoline at the Pan American Championships and tied for fourth place in trampoline at the Grenzland Cup in Aachen, Germany.
Blanchard was the 2006 U.S. champion in trampoline and synchronized trampoline and won the women’s senior elite trampoline and synchronized trampoline at the 2007 Winter Classic. She won the women’s junior trampoline title at the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships and the senior trampoline title at the 2006 U.S. Elite Challenge.
Hall was the only U.S. trampoline and tumbling gymnast to qualify for the 2006 World Cup Final, where she finished fourth in tumbling. She earned three medals, including a gold in 2005 in Ghent, Belgium, in the two-year World Cup series. Hall placed fourth at the 2006 U.S. National Championships and won a tumbling team silver medal at the 2005 Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships.
In addition to his 2006 U.S. title in tumbling, Ludvigson was the 2006 national champion in double mini-trampoline. He won the senior elite tumbling and double mini-trampoline events at the 2007 Winter Classic. Seitzinger placed second in tumbling at the 2007 Winter Classic.
The international field for World Cup USA will be named at a later date.
About the Olympic Regional Development Authority
ORDA, headquartered in Lake Placid, N.Y., was created by the New York State legislature in 1981. It manages, promotes, maintains and updates the venues that were used in the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. ORDA and Lake Placid offer venues that are used by the best winter athletes for training and competition, as well as for the enjoyment of recreational users. The sites offer the activities of skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing and snow shoeing, bobsled, luge, skeleton, hockey, figure skating, speed skating, ski jumping, Nordic combined, biathlon, aerials skiing, mogul skiing and mountain biking.