CHICAGO, Ill., June 19, 2009 – After the first night, the United States holds two of the top three spots in the all-around competition at the junior and senior levels of the 2009 Chicago Cup, which is taking place this weekend at Chicago’s Broadway Armory. The USA’s Rebecca Sereda of Staten Island, N.Y., currently has the top spot in the junior all-around, with Russia’s Ellina Tregubova heading the seniors.
Sereda, who trains at Isadora, leads the junior all-around with a composite score of 47.400 after finishing first and second in rope (23.400) and hoop (24.000), respectively, on Friday night. Liudmila Grigoryeva of Russia sits in second place with a score of 45.975, and local favorite Jasmine “Jazzy” Kerber of Highland Park, Ill./North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center, heads into the ball and club events in third in the all-around with a score of 45.800.
Tregubova established herself as the front runner for the senior all-around after finishing first in both hoop (25.250) and rope (24.875) for a composite score of 50.125. The top three U.S. seniors rhythmic gymnasts Julie Zetlin of Bethesda, Md./Rhythmflex, Rachel Marmer of Los Angeles, Calif./ Eurogymnastics and Ava Gehringer of Evanston, Ill./ North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center are on the heels of Tregubova in second, third and fourth, respectively.
All-around competition continues Saturday with the final two apparatus, beginning at 4:00 p.m. with junior ball and clubs followed by seniors with ball and ribbon at 5:30 p.m. The top eight competitors in the all-around competition qualify for individual event finals, which will take place on Sunday.
The inaugural 2009 Chicago Cup is an international rhythmic gymnastics competition being held at Chicago’s Broadway Armory Park June 19-21. The three-day event features senior and junior division all-around and individual event competition. The first two days of competition determine the all-around champion (the gymnast with the highest aggregate score after four events), as well as the top eight gymnasts for each apparatus who advance to the individual event finals. The apparatus for the Chicago Cup are rope, hoop, ball and ribbon at the senior level, while the juniors will compete in rope, hoop, ball and clubs.