The U.S. Junior Women won the team title at the 1997 International Team Championships, a triangular gymnastics competition, in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 22, at the Riverfront Coliseum.

The U.S. Junior Women’s Team includes: Monique Chang (Fairfax Station, Va.), Erinn Dooley (Gaithersburg, Md.), Christy Ray (Germantown, Md.), Elise Ray (Columbia, Md.), Kristen Stucky (Milwaukee, Wis.), and Lindsay Wing (Houston, Texas).
Elise Ray said, “I’m so excited. It was such a fun meet. I wasn’t expecting the U.S. to do so well but we just went out and hit our routines.”
Coach Kelli Hill said, “The U.S. team looked great. They are a focused, yet fun, group of girls coming up. We obviously need to work hard with the new rules but we’ll do what it takes come Sydney.”
Coach Debbie Kaitschuck said, “Considering this was the first international meet for most of our team, they did very well. Plus we had two gymnasts, Kristen Stucky and Christy Ray, that were called in yesterday due to injuries and illness and didn’t even get to train on the podium.”
T
he China Junior Women’s Team includes: Ling Jie, Peng Sha, Fan Wen, Wu Xiohua, Liang Yan, and Xin Yingying.
The Romanian Junior Women’s Team include: Ramona Socarici, Draguta Dobre, Nicoleta Onel, Elena Oprea, Olimpia Popa, and Andreea Radacanu.

The competition concludes at 6:00 p.m. tonight with the Senior Women’s Event.

International Team Championships Results

Junior Women

#,Country,VT,UB,BB,FX,Total
1.,USA,36.349,36.100,36.550,37.050,146.049
2.,China,36.136,36.030,36.125,36.325,144.786
3.,Romania,35.337,32.900,35.425,35.575,139.237