Complete results from 2007 National Turnfest in Springfield, MA can be found on the
American Turners Web Site.
Clinton Turners Win National Festival
The Clinton Turners take gold at the 52nd American Turners National Festival. Every four years one of the 54 Turner Societies host the National Festival, more commonly referred to as “Turnfest”, and this year the Springfield Turnverein hosted the event in Agawam, Ma. What is Turnfest? It’s a gathering of Turner societies from around the world to participate in athletic and cultural events, fellowship and Gemutlichkeit. It’s hard to put into words, and Gemutlichkeit has no direct translation, but is sort of a warm comfortable feeling that comes from meeting new friends and connecting with old ones.
Turnfest is divided into two areas of participation. The physical includes; men and women’s gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, special tumbling, track and field events, swimming, diving, volleyball, golf, tennis, mass drill and model drill exhibitions. Cultural exhibitions and events comprise the rest of the Turnfest venue and include over 100 categories from scrap books to fine art, solo and group performances, and the Miss American Turner pageant. The Turners have always been a family organization and anyone 9 years or older is welcome to compete. There were over 400 participants ranging from 9 to 86 years old, with the most senior competitor attending his 15th festival. That’s a time span of 60 years without a miss, and he dominated the 80 plus age group.
The strength of the Clinton society was in the gymnastics and track and field events. For the men’s gymnastics the competitors had to choose 4 events to compete in. Clinton entered 7 boys in this meet. In the All Around, Ryan Howlett and Sam Whitney finished 1st and 2nd in the 9-10 Youth Lower group, Dominic Notaro and Anthony Innamoratti were awarded 1st and 2nd in the 9-10 Youth Middle group, Zeke Saliga finished 2nd in the 11-13 Youth Middle, Mike Bradley 1st in the 11-13 Youth Uppers, and Gustavo Quiros took 2nd in the 14-17 Junior Upper age group. The boy’s team piled up 275 points giving them a first place team finish, 40 points ahead of second place St. Louis. Clinton did not have any senior competitors, but the men competed in age groups all the way up to 80 plus, and were a rare treat to watch. Imagine 60 year old men still being able to swing to a handstand on the parallel bars and rings, or doing circles and leg cuts on the pommel horse, vaulting the ‘long way’ over the horse, doing flips on the floor, an even an iron cross from one of the 50-59 year olds. Even the judges, who now only judge younger athletes, were pausing their events to watch the seniors in utter delight.
The girls gymnastic was equally productive for points and awards. Carson Crook was 1st All Around in the 9-10 Youth Lower, Nina Hoag, Allison Wickham, Alli Delguidice and Paige Scott finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th respectively in the 9-10 Youth Middle, Carolyn Evans earned 2nd in 11-13 Youth Lower, Alison Tobin, McKayla Carville, Joanne Evans, Sarah Mpelkas and Samantha Langberg sweep the top five places in the 11-13 Youth Middle. In the 11-13 Youth Uppers Amelia Silwa, Tava Hoag, Kristen Michaud and Victoria Danby took 1st, 3rd, 7thand 8th. Cali Mpelkas and Michaela Melone took 1st and 2nd in the 14-17 Junior Middle and Tianna Saliga, Tiffany Sontag and Jannyn Quiros captured 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the very competitive 14-17 Junior Uppers. Two of Clinton’s coaches, Aubrey Sontag, 1st in the 18-23 Active Middle and Anne Kousoulos, 4th in 18-23 Active Upper, added to the team’s effort. The girls earned 712 points, 250 points more than the 2nd place New York Turners. Once again the Clinton team did not have any senior women, but watching these seniors, only up to 79 years old for the ladies, is very special. To see routines on the Parallel Bars and Pommels, now exclusively the men’s domain is truly a walk down memory lane for the gymnastic enthusiast.
The track and field events include choosing four events from a venue of; shot put, standing long jump, running long jump, hurl ball, softball throw, and depending on your age either the 50 meter walk, 50 meter dash, or 100 meter dash. The special events were the 800 meter run, 1500 meter run and the relay races. Six of our seven boys competed in the men’s events. Added to Clinton’s roster was John Delguidice, parent of daughter Alli. John finished 1st or 2nd in every event earning 46 points and was the fastest runner at the festival. The men recorded 302 points; good for a 5th place overall, 95 points behind the first place St. Louis team. The Clinton women’s team included all 24 gymnast plus Coach Heidi Hoag, the clubs co-director, and Alyssa Mpelkas and her mother Maria. The individual results are too numerous to report, but as a team the women took 1st place with 738 points followed by 2nd place St. Louis with 442. The Clinton girls dominated the running and jumping events. An event that most athletes entered, some just for the fun of it, was the hurl ball throw. The hurl ball is about the size of a punching bag with a 12 inch strap attached to it and a triangle handle at the end. The event is similar to the ‘Hammer Throw’ where you spin around while wind-milling the throwing arm and let it go. A baseball field is used for the event. The idea is to throw from around home plate and hopefully land it in the outfield. The field we used had a 30 foot tall back stop, yet the neighbor 50 feet behind the back stop now has at least two souvenirs! One parent summed it up best. What a hoot!
In other events, the swimming and diving events were dominated by the St. Louis and New York Turners. With only four contestants, Clinton still managed 6th place thanks to Carson Crook, Victoria Danby, Kristen Michaud and her mother Jackie. Jackie finished 3rd all around and took 1st place in the diving. Clinton had only a small women’s volleyball team, but they finished 2nd in their division which was also good for a 6th place finish. The Mass Drill, a team synchronized marching event earned Clinton a 3rd place finish. The Rhythmic gymnastics was one of the smallest events. There were only three teams with entries, but one name, Peggy Flavin from River City Turners, is a special individual. At only 13 years old she is already a national champion and practicing with US Olympic team. With flexibility beyond belief, she added a world class touch to this event. The Special tumbling event consisted of the gymnast performing a front tumbling pass, a back pass, and a mixed pass. Again with strong gymnastic skills, the Clinton team captured a 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th in the 9-13 group, and a 2nd and 6th in the 14-29 group earning the team another 1st place all around.
The Cultural side of the Turnfest was a huge display of entries from over 100 categories. In the Arts, ribbons were awarded for paintings, drawings, metal work, pottery, essay/stories, music composition, photography and videos to name a few. In the Crafts, entries included; flower creations, carvings, ceramics, baskets, jewelry and many more. The Needle and Sewing categories were filled with quilting, cross stitch, weaving, and embroidering entries to name just a few. Contestants and spectators spent hours enjoying the displays whenever time permitted. Clinton finished 5th in the overall Cultural awards, and took home many 1st place ribbons. The Cultural program starts off day one of the five day festival with the Miss American Turner pageant. Each society may enter one contestant who spends the entire day with their escort answering questions and dining with the judges. This year’s judges included a Hall of Fame Olympic baton twirler and the Mayor of Springfield. The evening finishes in formal wear before the entire body with the contestants speaking on what ‘Turnerism’ means to them. Four years ago our own Devon Ordung from Lancaster won this award in Aurora, IL. This year she came back to crown the new princess, Tiffany Sontag from Clinton Turners.
Miss Turners 2007
The Model Drill, a 10 minute choreographed exercise done in full costume, is a mixture of tumbling, dance and pyramid building. In mid June Clinton won their regional Turnfest for the 7th year in a row, helped out by a first place with this drill. Although there are no points given at the National Turnfest, this ‘Broadway type play’ was enjoyed by all. Clinton’s theme was ‘High School Musical’, and they worked for over 6 months perfecting their creation. The standing ovation from fellow Turners made it all worth while. Four other societies shared their talent and this was a fitting end to the physical competition. The evenings of the festival are filled with diners and karaoke and Gemutlichkeit. When all the points were added up, Clinton scored 2,192 points, and Concordia Turners from St Louis finished 2nd with 1,987. This was an amazing win for Clinton. For over 60 years Concordia Turners has won the National Festival. An awesome effort from the Clinton gymnasts, coaches and parents have earned Clinton Turners a place in American Turners history.
Fred Sontag
You can read about additional information on the National Festival held in Springfield, MA from the Republican Newspaper on www.masslive.com or on the American Turners Web Site
Historic Meet Dates:
2008
Feb 16 - Adams
Mar 15 - Clinton
Apr 19 - Springfield
June 28 & 29 - Providence Turnfest
