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KIDS Are TOPS Sports Center (Home of TOPS Gymnastics Club) Monday, February 12, 2007 Press Release – For Immediate Release . . . On February 9th and 10th, 2007, TOPS Gymnastics Club's Level 4 and Level 5 Girls Gymnastics Teams again represented Ohio with great success at the IGI Chicago Style Gymnastics Meet (www.chicagostylemeet.com) held at Chicago's historic Navy Pier (www.NavyPier.com). Billed as the largest women's gymnastics invitational meet in the world, it used five separate competition gymnasiums all running simultaneously to handle the large number of entries from all over the United States, Puerto Rico as well as five other countries. In attendance and signing autographs were former Olympians, John Roethlisberger and John McCready. Roethlisberger was a member of six World Championship Teams and a member of the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Teams. Roethlisberger is one of the most accomplished male gymnasts in American history. McCready was a competitive gymnast and a member of the United States Senior National Team from 1993-2000. He was a member of the 1995 and 1997 World Championship Teams as well as the 1996 Olympic Team. TOPS was represented by over 30 Level 5 gymnasts and an equal number of Level 4 gymnasts. These girls, aged 7 to 14, all competed on the four Olympic gymnastics events of floor exercise, vault, uneven bars and balance beam. This competition required an unusual team format in that the coaches had to designate 5 gymnasts in advance from whom the top 4 scores on each event would comprise the team score. TOPS staff designated two 5 member teams (teams A and B) in the Level 5 competition and one 5 member team for the Level 4's. The remainder of the gymnasts competed for individual honors only. Of 33 Level 5 teams from all over the country, TOPS Level 5 'A' Team placed first by a wide margin and TOPS Level 5 'B' Team surprisingly took third place honors! First and third overall was an amazing finish in such a well known and highly competitive event! Individually, TOPS gymnasts again swept the All-Around competition with Chicago Style Champions: Shanthi Hiremath in the 9 and under age group, Ellie Vaughan in the 10 year old age group and Ashley Woods in the 11 and over age group. Right behind our champions, 10 year old Mallory Gatto was a very close 2nd place to Ms. Vaughan in the 10 year old age group with teammate Lauren Van Oss taking 5th All-Around in that division. In the 11 and over age group, TOPS gymnasts Breanna Porter, Caren Kay, Kelly George and Christina Lopez finished 4th through 7th All Around and Hannah Warwar filled out the top ten with a 10th place finish. Congratulations to all the TOPS Level 5 gymnasts on their remarkable performances at the Chicago Style Invitational. TOPS Level 4 gymnasts took the stage on Saturday following the Level 5's outstanding performances on Friday night and finished a very respectable 6th overall out of 30 total teams. TOPS Level 4 top All-Around performers were age 8 and under; Tori Harrison 8th, Lily Knopp 12th, Maci Galan 14th and Morgan Cline 15th. In the 9 year old age group, TOPS took 5th through 9th All-Around with Julianne DeRoo, Claire Daniels, Samantha Greer, Katie Rogers and Lauren Boyko. And in the 10 and over age group, the following TOPS gymnasts placed; Ellen Force 4th, Alexis Creona 5th, Susie Meyer 7th and Rachel O'Brien 10th All Around. About KIDS Are TOPS Sports Center: KIDS Are TOPS Sports Center has been serving the greater Dayton area since 1981 as TOPS Gymnastics Club under the ownership of Gary and Debbie Gantz and their daughter, Dawn Marzluff. KIDS Are TOPS will continue to develop students to their full potential in sports and performing arts through their staff of dedicated and trained professionals - giving their students care and a good example to follow as they grow both physically and mentally. KIDS Are TOPS recently moved into a new state-of-the-art 40,000 square foot sports complex on Paragon Road in Centerville. The new KIDS Are TOPS Sports Center will guarantee TOPS tradition of offering one of the most modern and safest training facilities in the Midwest! TOPS staff of over 35 features nearly 200 years of teaching experience and are safety certified and licensed by the national governing body, USA Gymnastics, the United States Swim School Association and the American Red Cross. TOPS currently offers instructional and competitive programs in gymnastics, cheerleading and dance. With the move to the new KIDS Are TOPS Sports Center in January, 2007, TOPS has added a wonderful new swim school with our new therapeutic warm water pool designed just for kids as well as additional art and music programs. # # # # # 300 dpi images are available of the above teams and competitions on our website at: http://www.kidsaretops.com/public_relations.htm For more information, please contact: Dan DeClark Telephone: 937-286-1366
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