Teft Falls Short
BOSTON - Katie Teft failed in her bid to make the U.S. women's gymnastics team Sunday night but she posted the best all-around score of her career. "That was really big for me," she said of her 38.775 on the night. "I feel really good inside." As well she should as she performed a personal best in the crucible of the Olympic Trials on national TV. At 14, the gymnast from Grand Rapids was the youngest on the floor Sunday. She said she will continue her Olympic quest through 2000. "That seems like a long way away," she said. She placed eighth in the trials at Boston's FleetCenter. Only the top five of 12 competitors made the team, because injured stars Shannon Miller and Dominique Moceanu got free passes when their scores from the national championships held up as the top two scores at the trials. Teft was in ninth place after Friday's compulsories, which account for 60 percent of the score. She moved up a spot but had too much ground to make up in Sunday's optionals, which were worth 40 percent. "She couldn't have had a better day. She showed everybody she can hang. Now that they will get rid of the compulsories after these Olympics, she'll be force to be rockoned with," her coach, John Geddert, said. Teft hit a near flawless routine on he uneven bars, drawing a roar from the crowd, a hug from Geddert and a sterling 9.825 score from the judges. "The bars felt really great," she said. The bars are her favorite event, but she scored just 9.10 on them in the compulsories. That was her lowest score in the trials, just as Sunday's 9.825 was her highest. Sunday's uneven bars routine moved her up to eighth place, just .63 of a point from the all-important fifth place. But Teft, wearing a read bow in her hair, did not stick the landings on her two tries on the vault. She scored a 9.625, and earned the same score on balance beam. Her partiotic floor exercise to a John Philip Sousa medley drew appreciative applause from the crowd of 17,112 as well as a warm embrace from coach Kathryn Geddert. She earned a solid 9.7. "The crowd was great on my floor and that made me excited," she said. "I had fun." Joining Miller and Moceanu on the Olympic team are Dominique Dawes, Kerri Strug, Jyacie Phelps, Amy Chow and Amanda Borden. By winning the trials with 78.157 points, Dawes made her second Olympic squad. Kerri Strug, another 1992 veteran, finished second with 78.108. Dawes' bar routine, which had her soaring high over the top bar, earned her a 9.95, which tied Strug's effort on the vault for high score of the night and gave her the lead. Dawes was grinning as soon as her feet hit the mat, then she turned and waved to the roaring crowd.
The Associated Press Contributed to This Report
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