
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 25, 1994                   TAG: 9404250064
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SUFFOLK GYMNAST HAS PERFECT SCORE AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Hope Spivey-Sheeley of Suffolk, capped her stellar Georgia career with a record 27th perfect score and awaits a new, larger wedding ring as the reward promised by her husband for a victorious collegiate gymnastics finale.

The senior's 10.0 came in the floor exercise competition that concluded the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships in Salt Lake City on Saturday night. It earned a standing ovation from the Huntsman Center's record-setting crowd, along with more sparkle on her hand.

"My husband [Dale] and I had a bet because I have always been selfish and wanted a bigger diamond wedding ring," Spivey-Sheeley said. "He's going to be very poor."

The University of Utah crowd of 8,382 also witnessed the sport's rising star, Kentucky's Jenny Hansen, add individual vaulting and balance beam honors to the all-around crown she defended Thursday.

With two years to go in her collegiate career, the 5-foot-1 sophomore from Somerset, Wis., has four titles, one short of the record set by former Utah gymnastics star Missy Marlowe during her career.

by CNB