USA Gymnastics names men’s team for Junior Pan Am Championships

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Oct. 23, 2007—2007 U.S. junior all-around champion Alexy Bilozertchev of Hilliard, Ohio, is one of four men who will represent the United States at the 2007 Junior Pan Am Championships, Nov. 19-26, in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

In addition to Bilozertchev, the U.S. Men’s Team consists of: Glen Ishino of Santa Ana, Calif.; Steven Legendre of Flower Mound, Texas; and Danell Leyva of Miami, Fla. John Orozco of Bronx, N.Y., is the team alternate. All are members of the U.S. junior national team. The head coach is Yin Alvarez and the assistant coach is Dmitri Bilozertchev.

At the 2007 Visa Championships in the 16-18 year-old junior division, Bilozertchev won the all-around and pommel horse and placed second on parallel bars and third on floor exercise and vault; and Ishino finished first on still rings and second in the all-around, pommel horse and horizontal bar. In the senior division, Legendre was third on vault, and Leyva, at just 15 years old, finished ninth in the all-around. At the 2006 Visa Championships, Leyva won the all-around, horizontal bar and floor exercise (tie) in the 14-15 year-old junior division. Orozco won the all-around, still rings, parallel bars and high bar and placed second on floor exercise and third on vault in the 14-15 year-old junior division at the 2007 Visa Championships.

The U.S. Women’s Team for the Junior Pan Am Championships will be named closer to the event.

Based in Indianapolis, USA Gymnastics, the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States, encourages participation and the pursuit of excellence in the sport.  For more information, log on to www.usa-gymnastics.org.

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