HOUSTON – The USA Men’s and Women’s Teams won the 1998 Junior Pan American Gymnastics Championships defeating strong teams from Brazil and Argentina for the women and Canada and Brazil for the men.
The USA Men’s final team score was 158.300 over Canada’s 146.400 and Brazil’s 145.250. For the women, the USA’s team score was 110.497 over Brazil’s 109.048 and Argentina’s 108.385.
USA Men’s Coach Stacy Maloney said, “On the first day the U.S. men glimmered and on the second day they sparkled and shined. It was a good team performance. They worked well together and everyone gave an outstanding effort for the competition.”
USA Women’s Coach Debbie Kaitschuck said, “The team did very well. They made a few mistakes but many breakthroughs were made. Anytime you can get international experience it helps for the future. The gymnasts showed they were very competitive.”
The USA Men swept the all-around competition with Zach Roberts (Encinitis, Calif.) winning the title with a score of 52.550. Paul Hamm (Waukesha, Wis.) and Brett McClure (Mill Creek, Wash.) tied for second with a 52.400.
Roberts said, “This is my first time to compete for the USA and it was quite an experience. It’s much different than competing for my club. I had a lot of fun.”
Hamm said, “It was a good competition. I hit everything but high bar. I had a new release (Kovacs) in my high bar routine so I was a little shaky. I was in this event two years ago and we lost to Cuba and Canada. It’s great to win this year.”
Brazil’s Daniele Hypolito won the all-around title with a score of 37.787. Morgan White (Fairfield, Ohio) took second with a score of 37.349 and Kristin Thome (Sugar Land, Texas) took third with a 36.537.
White said, “I’m very excited because this is a big step for me. I’m always fifth or sixth but to actually win a medal is nice. It was a great team effort. We really pulled together.”
Thome said, “It was a good team effort. We had great team spirit and it was lots of fun. I’m also happy that I earned my highest bar score ever.”
Individual Event Finals will take place on Friday, July 17 and Saturday, July 18 at the Coleman Community Coliseum.
Rhythmic Gymnastics competition is taking place at Memorial City Athletic Center.

Final Team Scores

Men

1. USA, 158.300 (Paul Hamm, Jamey Houle, Brett McClure, Zach Roberts)
2. Canada, 146.400
3. Brazil, 145.250
4. Colombia, 142.700
5. Argentina, 142.500
6. Mexico, 138.600
7. Puerto Rico, 138.050
8. El Salvador, 113.150

Women

1. USA, 110.497 (Monique Chang, Janae Cox, Kristin Thome, Morgan White)
2. Brazil, 109.048
3. Argentina, 108.385
4. Venezuela, 107.124
5. Canada, 106.885
6. Chile, 94.861
7. Colombia, 94.148
8. Mexico, 93.885
9. Puerto Rico, 89.473
10. Guatemala, 89.023
11. Bermuda, 86.699
12. Uruguay, 85.148
13. El Salvador, 78.197

Final All-Around Scores

Men

1. Zach Roberts, USA, 52.550
2. Paul Hamm, USA, 52.400
2. Brett McClure, USA, 52.400
4. Eric Kafka, CAN, 49.250
5. Antonio Cesar, MEX, 49.050

Women

1. Daniele Hypolito, BRA, 37.787
2. Morgan White, USA, 37.349
3. Kristin Thome, USA, 36.537
4. Daiane Dos Santos, BRA, 36.324
5. Melissa Cesar, VEN, 36.237

Note: Listed top five in the all-around