Postell, Patterson and Hatch Join U.S. Team

Ashley Postell, Annia Hatch and Carly Patterson won the final three spots on the U.S. women’s team for the World Gymnastics Championships, Aug. 16-24 at the Arrowhead Pond.

The additions boosted U.S. chances of winning a team medal at the event, which is the qualifying competition for the 2004 Athens Olympics. Postell won the 2002 balance beam world title, Hatch performs the most difficult vaults of any female gymnast in the world and won a bronze medal at the 1996 world championships, and Patterson has won all four meets she entered this season, her first at the senior level.

Their appointments were announced Saturday, after a five-day selection camp at the Texas ranch of national team coordinator Martha Karolyi.

The first three berths went to the top three finishers at last month’s U.S. championships. Courtney Kupets of Gaithersburg, Md., won her first national all-around title and the first spot.

She was joined by former champion Tasha Schwikert and first-year senior Hollie Vise, who tied for second.

Postell was fourth at the U.S. championships. Hatch, a Cuban native and naturalized U.S. citizen, led after the preliminaries but dropped to fifth. Patterson, 15, missed the competition because of an elbow injury.

Terin Humphrey, sixth at the U.S. competition, and Samantha Sheehan, who missed that meet because of an injury, were chosen as world team alternates.

Allyse Ishino of Santa Ana was named to the U.S. team for the Pan Am Games, Aug. 1-17 in the Dominican Republic. Tabitha Yim of Irvine is a Pan Am alternate.