Nani Vercruyssen
© Max Morse

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 30, 2008 – Nani Vercruyssen of Honolulu won the junior women’s trampoline title at the 2008 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships presented by Gillette Venus, which were held at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, Calif.

Vercruyssen posted a score of 35.80, followed by Canada’s Samantha Sendel in second and Russia’s Nadezhda Glebova in third. Dakota Earnest of Plains, Texas, posted a score of 33.00 to finish sixth.

“I’m really happy with how I did today,” Vercruyssen said. “This helps me prepare me for my next competitions, and I hope I do well at those, too.”

In the senior competition, Brittany Dircks of Orland Park, Ill., scored a 35.60 to place fourth for the women. Five-time trampoline world champion Irina Karavaeva of Russia scored a 38.50 to win the gold medal, with Canadian teammates Karen Cockburn and Rosannagh MacLennan in second and third, respectively. Alaina Williams of Amarillo, Texas, finished sixth.

“I think I have a lot more to do in training before the Olympics,” Dircks said. “But I think that I did very well today and I’m very happy with my performance.”

The senior men’s title went to Japan’s Tetsuya Sotomura with a score of 41.40. Rounding out the top three were Russia’s Dmitry Ushakov and Japan’s Yasuhiro Ueyama. Chris Estrada of Lafayette, La., was eighth.

In the junior men’s competition, Jeffrey Gluckstein of Atlantic Highlands, N.J., just missed the medal podium in fourth and K.J. Heger of Rockford, Ill, placed fifth with scores of 33.80 and 32.50, respectively. Russia’s Alexander Naumov claimed the gold medal with 38.00 points, followed by Canadians Keegan Soehn in second and Sebastien St. Germain in third.

Each athlete performed one voluntary routine during individual event finals.

About the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships presented by Gillette Venus

The 2008 Pacific Rim Championships features competition in men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics; rhythmic gymnastics; and trampoline. The competitors for men’s gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline were announced earlier and may be found at www.usa-gymnastics.org.

NBC Sports is broadcasting action from the Pacific Rim Championships on April 13 at 4:30 p.m. ET.

The Pacific Rim Championships, previously known as the Pacific Alliance Championships, were held in Honolulu in 2004 and 2006. World champions Nastia Liukin and Chellsie Memmel tied for the women’s all-around title in 2006. In 2004, Paul Hamm won the all-around gold medal before becoming the 2004 Olympic all-around champion. In 2007, the San Jose McEnery Convention Center hosted rhythmic and acrobatic gymnastics competition during the Visa Championships. The Pacific Rim Championships is the official championships of the Pacific Alliance Gymnastics Federations.

 


About San Jose State University

San Jose State — Silicon Valley’s largest institution of higher learning with 30,000 students and 4,000 employees — is part of the California State University system. SJSU’s 154-acre downtown campus anchors the nation’s 10th largest city. For more information, please visit www.sjsu.edu.

 


About the San Jose McEnery Convention Center

Considered the hub for meetings and conventions in San Jose, the San Jose McEnery Convention Center opened its doors in April 1989. The facility has 432,000 square feet of function space, including a 22,000 square-foot ballroom and 30 meeting rooms.

 


About the San Jose Sports Authority

The San Jose Sports Authority is a non-profit organization that serves as the sports marketing agency for the City of San Jose. Since their inception in 1991, they have worked with community partners to bring more than 150 premier events and programs to the San Jose area. For more information, visit www.sjsa.org.

 


About Procter & Gamble

Three billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Gillette(R), Pampers(R), Tide(R), Ariel(R), Always(R), Whisper(R), Pantene(R), Mach3(R), Bounty(R), Dawn(R), Pringles(R), Folgers(R), Charmin(R), Downy(R), Lenor(R), Iams(R), Crest®, Oral-B®, Actonel®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, and Braun(R). The P&G community consists of over 135,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

 


2008 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships
San Jose State University Events Center
San Jose, Calif.
March 30, 2008
Trampoline individual event finals

Senior women
1. Irina Karavaeva, Russia, 38.50
2. Karen Cockburn, Canada, 38.10
3. Rosannagh MacLennan, Canada, 36.70
4. Brittany Dircks, USA/Orland Park, Ill., 35.60
5. Michelle Garcia, Mexico, 25.60
6. Alaina Williams, USA/Amarillo, Texas, 16.10
7. Viviana Ramirez, Mexico, 12.40
8. Natalia Chernova, Russia, 5.20

Senior men
1. Tetsuya Sotomura, Japan, 41.40
2. Dmitry Ushakov, Russia, 41.30
3. Yasuhiro Ueyama, Japan, 40.60
4. German Khnychev, Russia, 37.20
5. Charles Thibault, Canada, 37.20
6. David Sabourin, Canada, 36.90
7. Ben Wilden, Australia, 36.80
8. Chris Estrada, USA/Lafayette, La., 9.10

Junior women
1. Nani Vercruyssen, USA/Honolulu, Hawaii, 35.80
2. Samantha Sendel, Canada, 35.10
3. Nadezhda Glebova, Russia, 34.70
4. Ekaterina Shustikova, Russia, 34.50
5. Alexandra Freeman, Australia, 34.30
6. Dakota Earnest, USA/Plains, Texas, 33.00
7. Kailey McLeod, Canada, 32.90
8. Aslin Styles, Australia, 32.40

Junior men
1. Alexander Naumov, Russia, 38.00
2. Keegan Soehn, Canada, 35.30
3. Sebastien St. Germain, Canada, 34.1