Balance Beam

Five-year-old Sophie Myers often flips when she's on the edge. And sometimes that cracks her up."I feel like a cartoon character, because I'm being so silly," Sophie said, giggling as she walked along a balance beam.Her giggling jerked her body around, but Sophie somehow kept her balance and completed the gymnastics routine. After that, she stood in line behind five other girls to learn another routine.She successfully walked on the balance beam and rolled over and even walked on the beam while repeatedly stepping through a hula hoop -- all balancing and coordinating skills that she learned at Columbia Gymnastics on Red Branch Road.

YesterdayGymnastics: Kim Zmeskal tumbled from the balance beam -- and so did her hopes for an all-around medal -- but Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes were rock solid as the U.S. team moved into second place behind the Unified Team after team compulsories.Basketball: Charles Barkley led the U.S. team with 24 points and one thrown elbow as the Dream Team outscored Angola, 116-48 -- very nearly an Olympic-record margin.Swimming: Nelson Diebel, who has Olympic rings tattooed on his hip, gave the United States its first gold medal, winning the 100-meter breaststroke in Olympic-record time.

One-by-one, Dominique Dawes straightened the young gymnasts as they struck a pose on the balance beam. "Stomach in. Hips are squared. The body is lean and tight," she told 9-year-old Christina Riggins, who was striking a graceful pose on the balance beam with her arms outstretched and forming a V. Christina quickly adjusted her position, her face tensed with concentration. Once the girls struck their positions on the 4-inch wide beam, Dawes pushed them. Christina teetered for a moment, then slipped off the beam.

ATHENS -- U.S. women's gymnasts marched into yesterday's team qualification with an unwanted teammate: jitters. Rookie nerves nagged all but one of the gymnasts and caused the youngest member to lose her composure. At the end of the day, however, the little setbacks remained little, as the U.S. squad finished second behind Romania and became one of eight teams to move on to tomorrow's final. Only Carly Patterson seemed inoculated against the jitters, finishing first in the individual rankings and qualifying for the individual all-around final and the apparatus finals in balance beam.

A record-breaking performance by sophomore Erin Shanley was the highlight of Towson State's victory over six East Coast schools at the 10th Towson State Invitational yesterday at the Towson Center.Shanley's first place all-around score of 39.025 was the second highest in Towson State history and a meet record. She broke another meet record with her first-place floor exercise score of 9.775. Her score of 9.8 on the balance beam was a meet record, as well, and put her in a three-way-tie for first in that event with sophomore teammate Sari Lehmuskallio and William & Mary junior Lynn Dameron.

MILWAUKEE - Courtney Kupets knew a slip on the balance beam might end her chances of winning the national all-around title. The 16-year-old gymnast from Gaithersburg never flinched, scoring a 9.650 on her final event to claim her first gold medal in a tense battle with two-time defending champion Tasha Schwikert and 15-year-old phenom Hollie Vise last night at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships. Schwikert and Vise tied for second place, joining Kupets as the first three members of the U.S. team that will compete in the World Championships later this summer in Anaheim, Calif.

The Harford Gymnastics team captured first place at the Atlanta Crown Gymnastics Invitational in Duluth, Ga., with a score of 98.75.Aimee Dellone, Sherri Doyle, Kristy Heron, Lindsay Robbins, Angela Simmons, Laura Neumann, Kelly Storck and Kristen Grimmel posted the highest score of the Level 7 optional competition and garnered 22 individual awards.In the 9-11 age group, Harford swept the top three all-around spots. Grimmel took first place, followed by Simmons and Neumann. Neumann tied teammate Robbins for gold on balance beam.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - It wasn't medical science alone that allowed Courtney Kupets to regain her world-class gymnastic skills less than 10 months after she ruptured her left Achilles' tendon. Surgical skill was part of it, certainly. But her remarkable recovery was also due in equal parts to hope, perseverance and a determination to remember why she pursued this often painful sport and endured tough months of rehabilitation. "You just go out there and have fun," the 17-year-old from Gaithersburg said.

FAIRFAX, Va. - Three months ago, Courtney Kupets and Ashley Postell sent the gymnastics world tumbling when they came from nowhere to win gold medals at the World Gymnastics Championships in Hungary. The 16-year-olds won't be sneaking up on the rest of the field today, but they'll have a hometown edge at the American Cup, the first competition in the series that leads to this year's world championships and the 2004 Olympics. Kupets, from Gaithersburg, won her medal in November in the uneven bars.

BOSTON -- Dominique Dawes came into the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials here at the FleetCenter a lot healthier and seemingly a lot happier than she's been since going up on the world's stage four years ago in Barcelona.The most recent and potentially serious injuries, stress fractures of her wrist and foot in the past year, have healed. The last goal of her career as a gymnast, making her second U.S. Olympic team, is in sight."I feel like I'm in control of what I do," Dawes said earlier this week.