A pair of 12-year-old figure skaters had a day to remember at the U.S. Olympic Festival.
Tara Lipinski, all 66 pounds of her, became the youngest gold medal winner in festival history Sunday when she won the ladies' division with a solid long program.Gymnast Shannon Miller was older by a few months when she won a gold in the uneven bars at the 1989 Festival.
"I just learned two weeks ago that I was coming here," said Lipinski, who trains in Newark, Del. "I just wanted to do the best I could. I had a lot of fun and skated well."
Lipinski hit three triple jumps in her long program to beat Teresa Aiello of Pound Ridge, N.Y.
In pairs' figure skating, Erin Elbe of Castro Valley, Calif., and her partner, Jeffrey Weiss of San Mateo, Calif, had only one stumble during their free skate routine and moved up from fourth place to take the silver medal.
As a result, they qualified for the 1995 World Junior Championships at Budapest, Hungary in November.
The 12-year-old Elbe is recovering from a staph infection that attacked her left tibia, the front bone in her lower leg. Doctors originally didn't think she would skate or even walk normally again.
The problem was diagnosed in March 1993, and doctors had to remove a section of bone the size of a half dollar.
"I have never been happier in my life except when I first skated," Elbe said.
The men's championship went to Derrick Delmore of Fort Washington, Md., who had no problem holding onto his lead in the men's long program. With only one stumble, he snapped off five of seven planned triple jumps combined with speed and grace to beat Timothy Goebel of Lakewood, Ohio, and Johnnie Bevan of Spokane, Wash.
"I never would've expected this," said Delmore, whose previous best national showing was seventh.
Day 3 at the Festival also featured some bruising basketball and strong showings by the two most highly regarded boxers in the tournament.
In a women's basketball game, Monick Foote of Wilmington, Del., scored 25 points and Tamecka Dixon of Kansas had 19 as the East (2-0) beat the North 99-86. There were 66 fouls called and 92 free throws. Two players from each team fouled out.
The other women's game was about as bruising. There were 60 fouls and 85 free throws as the West overcame a 22-point first-quarter deficit to beat the South 87-84. The West (1-1) trailed by a point with two minutes left when Shalonda Enis of Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College made two free throws, giving her team the lead for good.
The South men went to 2-0 in the round-robin tournament with a 103-79 victory over the West (0-2). The South never trailed, and led by as many as 28 late in the game. Five players finished in double figures, led by Adrian Custis of Virginia Tech with 19.
Dontae Jones of Northeast (Miss.) Community College scored 17 for the West, which shot just 31 percent.
The other men's game saw Ray Allen of Connecticut have his second strong game of the Festival, leading the East to a 122-88 victory over the North. The East (2-0) and South are now assured of meeting in the gold medal game Tuesday.
Allen, who had 28 points and 12 rebounds in his opening game, had 21 points and eight rebounds Sunday night. Six East players finished in double figures.
In boxing, U.S. champions Fernando Vargas and Shane Swartz looked the part as they easly won their semifinal bouts.
The first Festival record of the swimming competition came Sunday in the men's 100-meter backstroke, as Whitney Woolard of Vancouver, Wash., won in 57.20 seconds. That broke the mark of 57.37 set by Sean Gouldson in 1990.