Monterey Park’s Sabrina Mar Finishes First in National Gymnastics Competition

Sabrina Mar finished first in the McDonald’s Championship gymnastics competition Friday night with 74.940 points to earn the United States Gymnastics Federation national championship.

Mar overcame a lead by Kelly Garrison to win by one-tenth of a point. Garrison fell from the balance beam to enable Mar to overtake her.

Mar, 15, who lives and trains with 1984 United States Olympic Coach Don Peters, is a member of the Southern California Acro team (SCATS) gymnastics club out of Huntington Beach.

The top 10 finishers in the competition advanced to the World Championship team trials Sept. 25-27 in Minneapolis. They will be joined there by qualifiers from the U.S. Classic Nationals in Atlanta from Aug. 22-24.

Third place went to Marie Roethlisberger (73.960), followed by Yolanda Mavity (72.620), Kim Hamilton (72.620), Tracy Calore (72.500), Jennifer Sey (71.980), Stacey Gunthorpe (71.960), Lisa Wittwer (71.640) and Angie Denkins (70.640).