Sarah DeMeo has dreamed about stepping to the top of the podium and having a first-place ribbon placed around her neck.
That dream became a reality for the Great American Gymnastic Express gymnast Saturday afternoon at the 2006 U.S. Classic as she topped an all-star Junior Elite field to win the balance beam (15.350) and place seventh in the all-around.
"I'll cherish this forever," she said as she held the first-place medal. "I usually keep all my medals in a drawer in my bedroom, but I'm going to find a place to hang this one - this one is special."
After the awards ceremony, she and her GAGE Dragon teammates were mobbed by younger fans who wanted the gymnasts to autograph their shirts, programs and anything else they could find to get signed.
"I guess dreams do come true," said DeMeo, who lives in Overland Park, Kan. "Now, it's on to the U.S. Championship."
Based on performances at the U.S. Classic, 11 gymnasts who were not already qualified earned the right to compete at the Visa U.S. Championships Aug. 16-19 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
DeMeo and Dragon teammates Ivana Hong and Rachel Updike had already qualified for the U.S. Championships. They were joined Saturday by their teammate Erica Smith, who placed 20th overall at Saturday's competition.
"To advance to the U.S. Championships in my first elite meet is something I had hoped would happen, but I never really dreamed it would," said Smith, who will attend the Blue Springs Freshman Center this fall. "I think I pretty much nailed everything on the floor and was very happy with that. I wish I wouldn't have missed my dismount on the bars, because I thought my routine was very good until that miss."
Smith tied for 28th on the vault, tied for 29th on the bars, tied for 16th on the beam and was 14th on the floor.
"You always remember the first time you accomplish something special," said Al Fong, the coach at GAGE and the host of the U.S. Classic, "so I am very, very happy for Sarah and Erica.
"We saw the great potential in Sarah and kind of remade her routines - much the same way Tiger Woods remade his golf game a few years ago. Not everyone was pleased with that, but look at the end results.
"And Erica just qualified for elite and look at what she accomplished today. We have four of our seven girls going on to the U.S. Championships and the three girls who didn't make it are very close to reaching that goal.
"This is something that is so difficult. I don't think you can appreciate what they do unless you see them compete at an event like this in person."
Grain Valley's Jackie Mesh is one of the girls who will not advance to the U.S. Championships, but she certainly made an impact on her brother Michael, a baseball standout who just graduated from Grain Valley High School.
"I can't believe what she did out there," Michael said. "All I have to do is hit a baseball. I watched her perform on that beam and I was so nervous - I don't know how she did it."
Mesh has trained with Fong for 10 months, and he believes the sky's the limit for one of his newest students.
"When she gets on track and really gets with the program, her rise is going to be meteoric," Fong said.
He believes the same thing is true for Hong, who never wanted to use an injury as an excuse, but the eighth grader at Sunnyvale Middle School in Blue Springs has been dealing with a serious back injury.
"Because Ivana has already qualified for the (U.S.) Championships, we didn't want her to do anything today to risk further injury," Fong said. "She had a spill that would kill most kids and she got right back into the sport.
"She's going to be healthy and we're expecting huge things from her in Minnesota."
Hong medaled on the vault (eighth place, 14.350) and placed 16th overall.
"I wish I could have done better because my dad and grandparents came in from California to see me perform," Hong said. "But I wasn't 100 percent because of my back and I didn't want to do anything to risk any more injuries."
Updike placed 17th overall, Rebecca Clark was 29th, Mesh was 36th and McKenzie Fechter 38th.
"I'm real excited to have competed in my first elite event," said Clark, who will be an eighth grader at Sunnyvale Middle School. "I thought I did pretty good for my first big meet and now I know what to expect and will do better."
Less than a point separated the top three juniors at the Classic in Kansas City, showing the depth of the junior women's program.
Shawn Johnson, 14, from Chow's Gymnastics in Des Moines, Iowa, won the junior all-around title with 60.65 points. Samantha Peszek of McCordsville, Ind., and DeVeau's School of Gymnastics took second with a score of 60.500. Bianca Flohr of Creston, Ohio, and Cincinnati Gymnastics took third with a 59.95.
Johnson finished second on vault (15.30) and the floor exercise (14.85), third on the uneven bars (15.25) and tied for third on the balance beam (15.25).
In addition, Peszek, 14, won both vault (15.35) and floor (14.95) titles and placed second on beam (15.30) and fourth on bars (14.90).
Flohr, 15, the 2005 junior national bar champion, won bars, scoring 15.850. She was also third on vault (14.90) and tied for third on beam (15.250).
Reach Bill Althaus at bill.althaus@examiner.net or 350-6395.
