Hawai'i gymnasts thrive on Mainland
By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Despite being miles away from home, three Hawai'i gymnasts competing for Mainland colleges know the significance of this week's Pacific Alliance Championships.
"It's pretty exciting; it's an international meet, so you get to see people from all over who are top gymnasts," said Ina Higashi-Izumi of the event that is being held at the Stan Sheriff Center.
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"You see things you haven't seen before, you see all these hard skills."
Higashi-Izumi, a 2003 Kalani graduate, who competes for Cal State Fullerton, Maryland's Mandy Pascual, and California's Elyse Wong recently completed their seasons. All their teams competed in the NCAA Regional Championships but failed to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Pascual, a 2001 graduate of Punahou from 'Aiea, said the Pacific Alliance Championships are a good tool to promote gymnastics throughout the state.
"I think it's a really good way to get the word of gymnastics out," she said. "For as small of a state as we are, there are a lot of people who are involved (in gymnastics). It's pretty exciting."
Added Wong: "Especially because they might be going to the Olympics, you can say you saw them in Hawai'i."
The Pacific Alliance Championships, which start tomorrow, serve as a preview of the countries to watch from the Pacific region at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The top three men's teams and three of the top four women's teams in the world will be competing.
Homegrown Report chronicles feats of former Hawai'i high school athletes. If you know of any deserving of recognition, give us their names, high schools and graduation years, colleges and sports. E-mail us at: homegrown@honoluluadvertiser.com or contact Leila Wai at 535-2457. Homegrown Report appears every Wednesday in The Honolulu Advertiser.
Higashi-Izumi finished her first season at Cal State Fullerton with highs of 9.775 on the parallel bars twice. She sprained her right ankle in practice before the season started and only competed in one event.
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"It was different (from the club level)," she said. "You have to get used to a new coach and a new team, but all the girls are really nice and they help you out."
Maryland's Pascual also only competed on the parallel bars this season. Pascual, a redshirt sophomore, has battled a right-ankle injury, which has been operated on three times.
It has prevented her from competing on anything but the parallel bars for the second straight season, but Pascual again tied a school-best 9.925 twice.
"I had a pretty good season, and our team started off with the best season that we've ever had as a team," said Pascual, who said she also suffered with a nagging shoulder injury. "This year I didn't get to compete in other events, but just the fact that I got to train them, I'm sure I'm going to get to compete them next year."
Wong, also a Punahou alum (2003), said that in her first season as a collegiate athlete, one of her biggest adjustments was the team strategy employed in college.
"In club, everything is individual scores," said Wong of Honolulu. "In college, they still give you individual scores, but it all counts toward the team total."
She said that she enjoyed the team mentality, because it brought the team closer together.
She said another change was her team's training regiment.
"The workout schedule is different; it's shorter, and we do different types of conditioning things, like lifting weights," said Wong, who said she had never lifted weights before.
Wong, a freshman, recorded individual bests of 9.700 on the vault, 9.625 on the beam, and 9.850 on the floor.
Notes: Stanford freshman Erin Geary, a 2003 graduate of Punahou from Honolulu, and Brigham Young freshman Sierra Jacobs, a 2003 graduate of Maryknoll from Kailua, did not compete for their schools this season.... For more information on the Pacific Alliance Championships, go to www.usa-gymnastics.org.
