Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 2, 1993 TAG: 9308020061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN ANTONIO LENGTH: Medium
Miller won the balance beam, vault and floor exercise and took the silver medal on the uneven parallel bars. She had won the all-around title and helped her East team win the gold Friday night.
"I don't think about the pressure of other people expecting me to win," said Miller, 16, the reigning world champion and a winner of five medals at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. "I just try to do my best."
Her score of 9.975 in the floor exercise, the final event, brought a standing ovation from the crowd, estimated at 13,500. She scored 9.90 on the beam and 9.775 in the vault.
Her 9.875 on the bars wasn't enough to beat training partner Kerri Strug of Tucson, Ariz., who set a Festival record with a 9.90. Strug finished second to Miller in the floor exercise and balance beam, just as she had in the all-around.
"I think this is the best 1-2 punch America has ever had," said Steve Nunno, who coaches both. "They are two of the most experienced gymnasts we've ever had. I think it's essential to have this level of experience leading our team [at the Atlanta Olympics] in 1996, so I hope they'll both stay around for that."
Also Sunday, diver Mary Ellen Clark won the three-meter springboard title to go with the gold medal she won Saturday in the platform, and track and field star Connie Price Smith set her second Festival record in winning the shot put.
Gold medals were awarded in boxing, where the only U.S. champion remaining in the field went away a winner, and in ice hockey.
Clark, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., scored 481.32 points on the springboard to easily beat Reyne Borup of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who had 455.64. The bronze medal went to Melisa Moses of Jacksonville, Fla., with 448.50.
Clark won a bronze medal on the platform at the Barcelona Olympics and is the U.S. platform champion. Her best dive Sunday was a reverse 2 1/2 somersault that received 7.5s and 8.0s.
"I've won [the springboard competition] in high school state meets and other local events," she said. "This is a first for a major event."
The gold medal in the men's platform went to NCAA champion P.J. Bogart of the University of Minnesota, who rallied to beat Pat Evans and Russ Bertram.
Bogart received five 10s on his next-to-last dive, a backward 2 1/2 somersault in the pike position, and finished with a score of 589.59.
"That's been my most inconsistent dive," Bogart said. "It's been going good here, though. I have no idea why, except for maybe I've had really good takeoffs on it. This is also the first pool where I've been able to see my spot."
Evans, of Cincinnati, had received five 10s on his fourth dive, a forward somersault pike out of a handstand. But he faltered late and finished third with 527.61. Bertram, of Fort Lauderdale, won the silver with 560.07.
Price Smith, of St. Charles, Mo., excelled in the 100-degree heat Sunday, just as she had done Friday night in setting a Festival record in the discus. She threw the shot 60 feet, 1 inch to beat runner-up Stevanie Wadsworth of Texas Christian University by 5 feet.
In boxing, Aristead Clayton Jr. of Baker, La., outpointed Mark Burse of St. Louis 30-20 in a 119-pound bout that featured the best exchanges of the afternoon.
"I was blocking a lot of his shots that he was throwing," Clayton said. "Sometimes I use too much defense and the judges might think that the punches are scoring, but they're really not and they might give him credit for it."
The two other national champions at the Festival had been eliminated in Thursday's semifinals: Abayomi Miller of Toledo, Ohio, at 132 pounds, and Hector Colon of Milwaukee in the 147-pound class.
by CNB