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Area Teams Win State Gymnastics Titles

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 22, 2007

TAMPA - Lightning City Gymnastics and LaFleur's Tampa each won level 5 team titles at the Florida State Gymnastics Meet that took place Saturday and Sunday. Event host Lightning City won the large team title with a total of 151.925 points, while LaFleur's finished with 110.150.

Lightning City was led by three all-around champions. Shante Williams won the level 5E middle-young division, winning all four disciplines in the process, while Morgan Colee won three disciplines on her way to the level 5E middle-old title and Morgan Novotny won the level 5E old division title.

"We're pretty well-disciplined as a group," Lightning City coach Rick DeSantis said. "Even though our team is probably the youngest on the floor by far, and probably the least experienced, I think their confidence level is at a much higher level."

Williams finished with 38.250, 0.675 ahead of teammate Baylee Holbrook and more than a point ahead of Christie Griffin, also of Lightning City. Williams scored a 9.775 in the beam, a 9.550 in the vault, 9.475 in the floor and 9.450 in the bars. Holbrook tied with Williams in the floor, and recorded a 9.700 in the beam.

Colee opened with a 9.150 in the bars to put her in third place, but then won the remaining three disciplines, scoring a 9.625 in the beam, a 9.450 in the floor and a 9.675 in the vault to win by 0.600 points against Jazmine Gross from Tampa Gymnastics.
Novotny scored 9.850 in the beam and 9.600 in the floor, scores that gave her a large enough cushion going into the vault that a 9.050 in the final event of her rotation didn't make a difference. Novotny won by 0.300 against Brittany Cravatta of Tampa Gymnastics.

LaFleur's was led by level 5B middle-young division all-around champion Brooke Gennaro. Gennaro finished with 36.750, including a 9.500 on the beam. LaFleur's also got strong performances by Kimberly Zambrusky, who finished with 36.450, good for third in the Class 5E young division.

"They did fantastic, they're a hard-working bunch of kids, and they deserved it," LaFleur's coach Dawn Foutts said. "We felt pretty good about it."

Delaney Wright and Kalie Romig contributed to the team's total as Wright finished fourth in the Class 5E middle-young division and Romig sixth in the Class 5E young division.

Tampa Gymnastics finished second in the Class 5A large team division behind Lightning City, but had Cravatta and Kathryn Cox win individual titles in the bars, Cravatta scoring a 9.300 in the level 5E old division and Cox a 9.300 in the level 5E middle-old division.

Freedom Wins Twice, Moves Into 2nd Place

Freedom beat George Jenkins and Newsome White to jump over the Tigers into second place in the Hillsborough High School Hockey League. The Patriots trail Newsome Blue by two points in the standings.

Mike Napora led the Patriots past Jenkins, scoring a hat trick as Freedom won 3-1. Kyle Chaplin had two assists for the Patriots, while Zack Harvard scored in the third period for the Eagles.

Chaplin added to his two assists with a pair of goals in the Patriots' 5-0 win against Newsome White, while Spencer McNabb added a goal an assist. Shane McMahon recorded the shutout for the Patriots as the Wolves were held scoreless for the second straight game.

Newsome Blue shut out the Tigers 4-0 as Brenden Rhoney, Johnny Maiello, Kyle Reigler and Michael Shurtleff scored. Mike Ziegelhofer had two assists and James Tzivelis recorded the shutout.

Jenkins bounced back from its loss to Freedom with a 3-2 win against Riverview/Durant. Jason Jensen scored twice for the Eagles being assisted on both by Harvard, but Kevin Wagner scored what proved to be the game-winner. Joey Heyer scored twice for the combined team to give him a league-leading 18 goals on the season.

Wesley Chapel ended Plant's two-game winning streak with a 2-1 win as T.J. Johnson scored the game-winner with three minutes to play.

Wharton had an easy time against Bloomingdale as George Prieto scored four goals in the Wildcats' 9-1 win. Jake Nager also scored twice and added a pair of assists for the Wildcats.

GOLF: Jesuit's Jack Twomey won the Florida Junior Tour (FJT) under-18 division title with a 2-over-par 146 at the MetroWest Golf Club in Orlando on Sunday.

Twomey shot an opening round 2-under 70 Saturday to give himself a three-shot advantage against Longwood's Hojin Kang and Lake Mary's Joseph Byun, and needed all of his advantage in windy conditions on the second day. Twomey shot a 76, but held on for the victory by one shot.

"It took a lot more concentration in the final round with the wind," Twomey said.

It was Twomey's first win on the FJT, and he was pleased with the way he played on the greens, especially in his first round.

"My putter was really working for me," he said. "I made a lot of one putts and par saves."

Dunedin's Justin Foster finished four shots behind Twomey in fourth place with a 150, while Riverview's Ian McConnell tied for seventh and Zephyrhills' Rick Briggs finished 15th.

TENNIS: Tampa's Chad Furst came from a set down to win the boys under-14 title at the Plant City Holiday Tennis Championship with a 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 win against Odessa's Jared Gordon-Martin.

Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243 or nmurray@tampatrib.com. Keyword: Youth Sports, For more news and notes.

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