Grant Gymnasts Silvera, Jester Lead Way at City Championships

Torri Silvera and Stacy Jester of Grant High vaulted away from the team concept for a day Saturday, and picked up seven places between them in four events at the CIF City Section Individual Gymnastics Championships, at Wilson High.

Silvera, competing in two of the four classes, tied with Class 1 all-around winner Sheryl Fitt of San Pedro for first place in the uneven bars with a score of 8.0. She also placed third in the Class 1 division of the balance, 6.8, and first in the Class 2 level of the vault with an 8.9 performance.

Jester picked up four places competing in both Class 2 and 3 categories. Although she picked up three places in the Class 2--fourth places in the floor exercise, 8.3, and balance beam, 6.2, and third place in the vault, 8.7--the day’s most productive gymnast was proudest of her effort on the uneven bars in Class 3.

Jester’s second place on the uneven bars, 8.8, told the story behind the ear-to-ear smile.

“The bars, definitely,” Jester commented on the quality of her performance. “Because I worked so hard on them. It was really a struggle,” she said revealing blistered hands.

Lisa Goodman, Grant, also turned in fine performances, picking up a third place on the balance beam, third place on the uneven bars and fifth in the vault to finish as the top all-around finisher in Class 2. Goodman’s composite score of 31.5 edged out second place Wendy Workman, Monroe, by one-tenth of a point.

Grant will meet Venice in the semifinal round of the Girls’ CIF City Section Team Chamionships, Wednesday, at Venice beginning at 3 p.m. The boys’ team championships will begin Tuesday at University. The individual competition, also at University, begins at 7 p.m. on Thursday.