Five girls from Naydenov Gymnastics, and one boy from Vancouver, advanced to national-level meets with strong performances at the USA Gymnastics Region 2 championships.
The regional meet for girls was held Friday through Sunday at the Tualatin Hills Athletic Center in Beaverton. Girls from six Western states participated in the meet. The boys regional meet took place in Boise.
Gabrielle Spencer from Vancouver’s Naydenov Gymnastics won the bars competition and placed second all-around in her age division of the Level 10 competition. Jordan Chiles was fourth all-around in the same division. Both girls qualified for the first time to compete in the Junior Olympics National Championships, scheduled for May 11-13 in Hampton, Va.
Destinee Davis, a former Naydenov gymnast from Woodland, won three of the events in that age group to take the all-around title. She now competes for Portland’s Multnomah Athletic Club.
Additionally, all three Naydenov competitors in the girls Level 9 competition qualified to compete at the Western Nationals, scheduled for May 4-6 in Boise. Stephanie Grey won the uneven parallel bars and placed third all-around for her age group. Ashley Kempf and Lillie Monor each took sixth in her age division at Level 9.
Six Naydenov girls won or shared first place on the uneven parallel bars at the regional meet.
Jaden Andrus of Vancouver Elite Gymnastics Academy took second all-around for her Level 9 age division to qualify for Western Nationals.
Megan Lee from Naydenov won all four events to claim the all-around crown of her division at the Level 7 regional invitational meet. The Level 7 invitational was held in conjunction with the Region 2 championships for Level 8 and above girls.
At the boys regional, which also included gymnasts from six states, Max DeFrees of Vancouver placed third all-around in his age division.
With a second-place finish on the parallel bars topping his results, DeFrees had an all-around total of 76.65 for his six events, third best among boys in the 14-15 age group at Level 10. He has qualified for the Junior Olympics national championships, scheduled for May 8-13 in Cincinnati.
DeFrees is a sophomore at Seton Catholic High School who now trains at Black Hills Gymnastics in Lacey. He travels north for four-hour training sessions four times a week.
NOTE — It is likely that more gymnasts from Clark County placed at these meets. Because gymnasts often train at clubs throughout the region, and are not identified by home town on posted results, The Columbian relies on representatives of clubs or the individual gymnasts to report their results.
Clark County bowling championships under way
With a handicap-adjusted score of 790, Ivan Laurence is the early leaders in singles competition in the 63rd Clark County Bowling Championship tournament.
Laurence tops a list of 17 entries who bowled in the singles, handicapped scoring, division during the first of three weekends of tournament play at Allen’s Crosley Lanes in Vancouver.
Other early leaders in the tournament include: Big Al’s No. 1 leads the team division, David Cruz and David Jones lead doubles, and Johnnie King leads all-events handicap scoring. The scratch-scoring division leaders are David Wilson (singles) and Ed Mortensen, Sr., (all events).
Cruz had the best three-game series of the weekend, a 768.
Staged by the Clark County chapter of the United States Bowling Congress, the tournament is open to any bowler registered with the USBC. Registration details are available at any bowling center in Clark County, or by contacting the Clark County USBC at 360-694-6348.
• The annual Clark County USBC membership meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 10 in the community room at the Clark Public Utilities office at 1200 Fort Vancouver Way.
Girls lacrosse team wins
The Evergreen Lacrosse Club moved into first place in the Nisqually Conference of the Washington Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association with a pair of victories last week.
Sarah Neve posted a career-high four goals, while Mackenzie Nelson, Madeline McKinnon and Emily McCoy each added hat tricks as the Black Cats defeated Graham-Kapowsin 19-9 on April 11 in Spanaway. Rickee Weygandt had seven saves.
On Saturday, Evergreen posted an 11-5 win over Tahoma. After giving up a goal in the opening minute, the Black Cats built a 7-2 advantage at the break. McCoy scored three goals in the final 11 minutes of the game. McKinnon, Neve, and Lauren Hurst had two goals apiece, while Katherine Borchers had seven ground balls and caused four turnovers.
Evergreen will look to move to 3-0 in conference play when the Black Cats host Bethel at 1 p.m. on Saturday at McKenzie Stadium.
• Cullen Roher, Karsten Wong and Chase Fenn scored goals as the Union boys lacrosse team defeated Lincoln of Portland on April 11 in a junior varsity match played at Pacific Middle School. It was the first win for the new team, which is playing as junior varsity schedule this spring.
The next match is against the Sherwood JV team today at Pacific Middle School.
B.G. rugby wins
The Bulls of Battle Ground defeated Lake Oswego 56-24 in a high school rugby match played on Saturday at Delta Park.
The match was between teams in Division 2 of Oregon Youth Rugby. Brandon Walther scored three tries. Jake Sachens and Keko Govea both scored twice. Tate Brown, Tyler Duncan, Tony Dierking, William Porter and Jake Lucia also scored tries.
The Bulls’ Division 2 team plays at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Laurin Middle School against Columbia County.
Young wrestlers place
Jake Rogers took third place and Tommy Strassenberg earned a fourth-place finish at the Asics Kids National Folkstyle Wrestling Tournament, held March 30-April 1 at Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Rogers had a 6-1 record with four pins in the 95-pound novice division. He is a fifth grader at Chief Umtuch Elementary School in Battle Ground and trains with the North County Bobcats.
Strassenberg was 5-2 with four pins to place fourth in the 112-pound Schoolboy division. He is a seventh grader at Shahala Middle School and wrestles for Southwest Washington Wrestling Club in Battle Ground.
COMMUNITY SPORTS NEWS is published each Tuesday. To submit items for consideration, send an e-mail to paul.danzer@columbian.com, or call 360-735-4521.
