Riesa, Germany – The 2002 FIG Sports Acrobatics World Age Group Games (SAWAGG) took place this week in Riesa, Germany. Twenty-three athletes from the USA competed in women’s pair, women’s trio and mixed pair in two age groups against 25 other countries.

In the 12-18 age group, the Women’s Pair of Claire Brunson and Olivia Solo (Empire: Riverside, Calif.) won a silver medal for the second year in a row, performing a flawless routine in the finals to move from fourth to second.

The USA also won a silver medal with an impressive final routine from the Women’s Trio of Danielle Heider, Holli Morris and Samantha Schabow (Empire: Riverside, Calif.). They also placed first in the balance routine of prelims.
Other notable performances in the 12-18 group were fourth place in Women’s Pair Tempo for Marie Annonson and Brittany Horrell (CAT: Sacramento, Calif.) and solid performances by the trios of Lori Oberst, Kelly Brock and Alayna Davis (ATA: San Jose, Calif.) and Robin Stevens, Candace Bedell and Kelly Patton (ATA: San Jose, Calif.).

The U.S. team was also well-represented in the 11-16 age group as the Women’s Pair of Allison Cole and Jessica Guiel (Xtreme: Gaithersburg, Md.) placed fourth in Tempo and made All-Around finals finishing sixth.

The Women’s Trio of Kelly Topp, Angela Hatch and Gina Nicolo (Wings: Livermore, Calif.) also made all-around finals with a third place finish in Balance and Tempo and finished in seventh.
The other notables in the 11-16 age group were Mixed Pair Shane Creighton and Lindsay Nagle who earned sixth in Balance and sixth in Tempo prelims, just missing finals. The Women’s Trio of Haley Miller, Shannon Donelly and Ellison Anoll (Novak’s: Northern, Va.) put in a solid performance and finished tenth.
The Senior World Championships are set to start on Friday, September 27, 2002 with the preliminary competition.