COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The United States won three gold medals, including both the men’s and women’s individual all-around titles, in the second day of competition at the Junior Pacific Alliance Championships, held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center here Friday evening.

USA junior national champion Marline Stephens (Houston, Texas) came from behind to claim the gold in the women’s all-around and help the United States to the team title. Her score of 35.975 was .251 better than the 35.724 by Kana Yamawaki of Japan. Sierra Sapunar (Sebastopol, Calif.) struggled on the last event, the balance beam, dropping from first to third with an all-around score of 35.718.
“We had two falls going into the last rotation,” said Stephens. “I was thinking that I had to focus and just stay on the beam. The main goal was for us to do well as a team.”
The USA won the gold with a 107.84. The silver medal went to Australia, which posted a score of 104.510. The Australian team was forced to compete with only three athletes due to the departure of Allana Slater, who learned just before the competition that her father perished in the Indonesian airplane crash. Japan was third with a score of 104.010.

Freddie Umali (San Jose, Calif.), who was sixth at the 1997 John Hancock U.S. Gymnastics Championships last month, passed junior national champion Sean Townsend (Dallas, Texas) to take the men’s individual all-around gold with a score of 51.100. Townsend, a last-minute substitute for an injured Brett McClure (Mill Creek, Wash.), ended up with the silver medal with a 50.950, while Japan’s Ryoichi Yoshida took the bronze with a 50.650.
“I wasn’t expecting (the gold medal), but I’ll take it,” said Umali, who came back from third place after three events to claim the title. “The difference between yesterday and today was the support I got from my teammates. They pumped me up. We’re all behind each other, and it helps a lot.”
Japan won the men’s team title with a score of 154.45. The United States took the silver with a 153.40, while Australia was third with a 144.90.
Competition concludes Saturday with individual event finals in men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics as well as rhythmic gymnastics, where the USA won the team gold and group bronze earlier in the day.
For more information and complete results of this and other USA Gymnastics events, go to USA Gymnastics Online at www.usa-gymnastics.org.

Artistic Gymnastics
Junior Pacific Alliance Championships

Sports Center I, U.S. Olympic Training Center
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Sept. 26, 1997
(top eight in each event advance to individual finals on Saturday, Sept. 27)

Women

Balance Beam

1, Lise Leveille, Canada, 9.187. 2, Trudy McIntosh, Australia, 8.950. 3, Marline Stephens, Houston, Texas, 8.850. 4, Brooke Walker, Australia, 8.787. 5, Pia Adelle Reyes, Philippines, 8.712. 6, Kana Yamawaki, Japan, 8.625. 7, Chiharu Machida, Japan, 8.625. 8, Leidy Viviana, Colombia, 8.500. 9, Carri Nagle, Whitehall, Pa., 8.500. 10, Alethia Boon, New Zealand, 8.462. 11, Yuki Sudo, Canada, 8.275. 12, Tsai Min-Hsiu, Chinese Taipei, 8.250. 13, Brittany Smith, Houston, Texas, 8.137. 14, Sierra Sapunar, Sebastopol, Calif., 7.975. 15, Natalia Arango, Colombia, 7.875. 16, Alejandrina Leal, Mexico, 7.662. 17, Sarah Drovandi, Australia, 7.650. 18, Angela Obias, Philippines, 7.575. 19, Precious Aissa Reyes, Philippines, 7.525. 20, Ana Zavala, Mexico, 7.500. 21, Yukari Ishizeki, Japan, 7.437. 22, Natasha Howell, New Zealand, 7.350. 23, Maria Hernandez, Costa Rica, 7.300. 24, Marie Julianne Castillo, Philippines, 7.262. 25, Daniela Cepeda, Mexico, 7.237. 26, Yuka Kawamura, Japan, 7.125. 27, Hannah Marshall, New Zealand, 6.762. 28, Lau Sin Ting, Hong Kong, 6.600. 29, Laura Robertson, New Zealand, 6.575. 30, Andrea Gonzalez, Mexico, 6.350. 31, Chiang Pi-Hsuan, Chinese Taipei, 6.325. 32, Lin Wan-Chen, Chinese Taipei, 6.275. 33, Lai Kit Sum, Hong Kong, 4.475

Floor Exercise

1, Sierra Sapunar, Sebastopol, Calif., 9.650. 2, Marline Stephens, Houston, Texas, 9.625. 3, Brittany Smith, Houston, Texas, 9.337. 4, Kana Yamawaki, Japan, 9.100. 5, Chiharu Machida, Japan, 9.062. 6, Trudy McIntosh, Australia, 9.037. 7, Brooke Walker, Australia, 9.025. 8, Laura Robertson, New Zealand, 9.025. 9, Lise Leveille, Canada, 9.000. 10, Pia Adelle Reyes, Philippines, 8.837. 11, Julie Beaulieu, Canada, 8.750. 12, Lin Wan-Chen, Chinese Taipei, 8.637. 13, Alethia Boon, New Zealand, 8.575. 14, Kristen Thome, Sugar Land, Texas, 8.562. 15, Natasha Howell, New Zealand, 8.525. 16, Andrea Gonzalez, Mexico, 8.525. 17, Yuka Kawamura, Japan, 8.425. 18, Yuki Sudo, Canada, 8.425. 19, Precious Aissa Reyes, Philippines, 8.350. 20, Leidy Viviana, Colombia, 8.312. 21, Chiang Pi-Hsuan, Chinese Taipei, 8.262. 22, Maria Hernandez, Costa Rica, 8.250. 23, Chimemi Takeda, Japan, 8.175. 24, Sarah Drovandi, Australia, 8.125. 25, Tsai Min-Hsiu, Chinese Taipei, 7.975. 26, Marie Julianne Castillo, Philippines, 7.825. 27, Alejandrina Leal, Mexico, 7.737. 28, Diana Sanchez, Mexico, 7.612. 29, Lau Sin Ting, Hong Kong, 7.437. 30, Daniela Cepeda, Mexico, 7.437. 31, Ma Luisa Ria Sugay, Philippines, 7.437. 32, Hannah Marshall, New Zealand, 7.125. 33, Natalia Arango, Colombia, 6.650. 34, Lau Kit Sum, Hong Kong, 6.575

Final All-Around Standings

1, Marline Stephens, Houston, Texas, 35.975. 2, Kana Yamawaki, Japan, 35.724. 3, Sierra Sapunar, Sebastopol, Calif., 35.718. 4, Brooke Walker, Australia, 35.587. 5, Chiharu Machida, Japan, 35.255. 6, Trudy McIntosh, Australia, 35.048. 7, Lise Leveille, Canada, 34.237. 8, Alethia Boon, New Zealand, 33.874. 9, Leidy Viviana, Colombia, 33.548. 10, Sarah Drovandi, Australia, 33.437. 11, Tsai Min-Hsiu, Chinese Taipei, 32.918. 12, Pia Adelle Reyes, Philippines, 32.911. 13, Yuki Sudo, Canada, 32.724. 14, Laura Robertson, New Zealand, 32.711. 15, Natasha Howell, New Zealand, 31.918. 16, Lin Wan-Chen, Chinese Taipei, 31.580. 17, Alejandrina Leal, Mexico, 31.242. 18, Daniela Cepeda, Mexico, 31.192. 19, Maria Hernandez, Costa Rica, 30.862. 20, Andrea Gonzalez, Mexico, 30.843. 21, Chiang Pi-Hsuan, Chinese Taipei, 30.524. 22, Natalia Arango, Colombia, 29.825. 23, Marie Julianne Castillo, Philippines, 29.593. 24, Hannah Marshall, New Zealand, 29.087. 25, Lau Sin Ting, Hong Kong, 26.736. 26, Julie Beaulieu, Canada, 26.336. 27, Carri Nagle, Whitehall, Pa., 26.318. 28, Brittany Smith, Houston, Texas, 25.636. 29, Chimemi Takeda, Japan, 24.962. 30, Yukari Ishizeki, Japan, 24.555. 31, Precious Aissa Reyes, Philippines, 24.074. 32, Ma Luisa Ria Sugay, Philippines, 23.605. 33, Lai Kit Sum, Hong Kong, 23.231. 34, Ana Zavala, Mexico, 22.543. 35, Kristen Thome, Sugar Land, Texas, 17.661. 36, Angela Obias, Philippines, 13.100. 37, Allana Slater, Australia, 13.031. 38, Diana Sanchez, Mexico, 7.612

Final Team Standings

1, United States, 107.840. 2, Australia, 104.510. 3, Japan, 104.010. 4, Mexico, 95.189. 5, Chinese Taipei, 95.022. 6, New Zealand, 94.879. 7, Philippines, 94.872. 8, Canada, 93.297. 9, Colombia, 63.373. 10, Hong Kong, 49.967. 11, Costa Rica, 30.862

Men

Vault

1, Julio Garcia, Mexico, 9.250. 2, Anthony Petrocelli, Astoria, N.Y., 9.200. 3, Sean Townsend, Dallas, Texas, 9.150. 4, Roel Ramirez, Philippines, 9.050. 5, Freddie Umali, San Jose, Calif., 9.000. 6, Naoya Tabara, Japan, 8.900. 7, Kunikazu Matsumura, Japan, 8.900. 8, Rafael Garcia, Mexico, 8.750. 9, Yip Kwok Yan, Hong Kong, 8.750. 10, Scott Lang, Canada, 8.700. 11, Hsu Chao-