World Champ Sacramone headlines U.S. delegation to World Cup in Ghent, Belgium

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – 2005 world floor exercise champion Alicia Sacramone of Winchester, Mass., is one of five U.S. gymnasts who will compete in the 2006 World Cup event in Ghent, Belgium, May 13-14.

In addition to Sacramone, the U.S. squad features: women – Hilary Mauro of Shrewsbury, Mass., and Ashley Priess of Hamilton, Ohio, both of whom train at the Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy; and men – Justin Spring of Burke, Va….

May 11, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – 2005 world floor exercise champion Alicia Sacramone of Winchester, Mass., is one of five U.S. gymnasts who will compete in the 2006 World Cup event in Ghent, Belgium, May 13-14.

In addition to Sacramone, the U.S. squad features: women – Hilary Mauro of Shrewsbury, Mass., and Ashley Priess of Hamilton, Ohio, both of whom train at the Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy; and men – Justin Spring of Burke, Va., who trains at the University of Illinois, and Jimmy Wickham of Gulfport, Miss., who trains at Ohio State University.

The World Cup features individual apparatus competition. Held at the Flanders Sports Arena, preliminary rounds are at 2 p.m. on May 13, with the finals on May 14 at 2 p.m. The competition features athletes from 21 countries for the women, including China, Netherlands, Russia and Ukraine, and 30 countries for the men, including China, Japan, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.

Sacramone, who trains at Brestyan’s American Gymnastics, is the defending vault and floor exercise champion at the Ghent World Cup. The reigning U.S. vault and floor exercise champion, she also earned a bronze medal in the vault at the 2005 World Championships, in addition to winning the floor exercise gold medal. This is her first international event this year. Mauro, who lives in West Chester, Ohio, was a member of the gold-medal U.S. Team at the USA-Japan-New Zealand competition earlier this year. Priess, who is competing as a senior in 2006, won the balance beam title at the 2006 World Cup event in Lyon, France, where she also finished second on the uneven bars.

At the 2006 Men’s NCAA Championships, Spring won both the parallel bars and horizontal bar titles, as well as finishing second in the all-around and third in the floor exercise. His Illini team placed second in the team standings. A senior, he won the 2006 Nissen-Emery Award, which is also known as the Heisman Trophy of collegiate gymnastics. On the horizontal bar in 2005, Spring was the champion at the Visa Championships and tied for second at the 2005 American Cup. He also was a member of the 2005 U.S. World Championships Team. Wickham, a sophomore at Ohio State, was second on the vault at the 2006 NCAA Championships. At the 2006 Winter Cup, he won the vault and placed fourth in the floor exercise.