2002 Jurassic Classic: Women's Event Finals
Competition at the Jurassic Classic concluded with event finals on Saturday night. American Kristal Uzelec, unable to compete in the team event due to a knee injury which occurred earlier in the day training on beam, again sat out this event. While the rest of the Americans continued to dominate the meet the Canadian girls performed well with a highlight being Kylie Stone's third place finish on beam.
The evening began on vault and while the Canadians did their vaults well their lower start values kept them out of the medals. The winner was Carly Patterson (9.2875) whose second vault was a double twisting Yurchenko. The highest placing Canadian was Sport Seneca's Lydia Williams in fourth (8.850) whose first vault was a well-done piked Luconi (full twisting roundoff entry back pike off).
Start values came into play again on bars where the Americans had more difficulty, which they performed with incredible polish and finish. Hollie Vise captured the gold medal here with a 9.9 start value, she performs her front giant full to L grip raising the free arm to her hip similar to the Chinese and moves directly into a piked Jaeger (9.550). A highlight though, for the fans, was Williams' Tkatchev, which was the highest release move of the day. Danielle Hicks of Gemini caught both her release moves (Jaeger, Tkatchev) to finish in fifth, leading the Canadian team.
The only ten start values of the day came on beam from Vise (9.425) and Patterson (9.250) who concluded her routine with her trademark Aarabian double front. Stone thrilled the local fans by taking third place on beam with a solid performance that concluded with a dynamic dismount (ff ff double back- very high)(9.2). Hicks had her best showing of the day on beam (9.150) placing fourth.
Floor also proved to be a good event for Team Canada with Stone taking fourth (9.150) and Ottawa's Heather Purnell tying for fifth with Vise (9.125). As a local athlete, Stone was a crowd favourite and her floor routine did not disappoint with difficult and dynamic tumbling (Arabian double front, full-in and whip to double pike). Stone, a Calgary native coached at Stampede City by Stephania and Horia Iliesu, has always been a very dynamic tumbler but the work she has done on her artistry is starting to pay off. Omega'sGael Mackie (a replacement for the injured Melanie Banville) charmed the audience with a routine very reminiscent of Lobaznyuks' from the Sydney Olympics. She had some trouble with tumbling (low double pike; fall on 2 ½ twist to punch front; triple twist). Purnell captured fifth with the most interesting choreography of the day, which was emphasized by the fact that Patterson begins with the same music. The Americans had the edge on floor simply by being cleaner as the start values were very comparable.
Overall the Canadians gained great experience by competing against some of the best the US has to offer.
Results of this year's events can be found here.
Contributed with thanks by: Colleen O'Sullivan
