Sports Shorts

Chris Ranieri, of Manalapan, has been signed to a contract by the New Jersey Jackals of the Independent Canadian America Baseball League.

Ranieri, a shortstop, starred at Alvernia College (Reading, Pa.), where he was a First Team All-Pennsylvania Athletic Conference pick this spring. In his two years at Alvernia, he had an impressive .383 batting average. In 83 career games, he had 97 RBIs and 123 hits. Of those 123 hits, 32 were doubles, one a triple and 11 home runs.

Ranieri is a graduate of St. John Vianney High School, Holmdel. He will now be calling Yogi Berra Stadium on the campus of Montclair State University in Upper Montclair his home field.

By signing with the Jackals, Ranieri will be seeing playoff action. The Jackals won the first half of the Can-Am season and automatically qualified for the playoffs, which begin Sept. 5.

The Cyclones boys gymnastics team out of Monmouth Gymnastics Academy swept everything during the recent competitive season. The team, which operates out of Morganville, is coached by Yuriy Aminov.

The MGA's Level U7 team won the New Jersey state championship. Michael Egna, Emanuel Fradkin, Akash Modi, Anthony Maita, Mikael Khachatryan and Matthew Mannino were the gymnasts who represented the Level 7 team. In addition to the state championship, the MGA's Level 7 team won the Greater New York Invitational, Brian Babcock Invitational, West Point Open and Temple University meets.

Michael Luca, Parker Adamo, Daniel Mizrachi, Evan Hymanson, Damian Jardot and Ross Rudnicki made up the Level 5 squad that finished second at the state championships. They were second at the Greater New York and third at the Brian Babcock and Temple University competitions.

The Level 6 boys were second at the state championships as well as the Greater New York Invitational. TJ Orrico, Christopher Graff, Willie Barron, Joseph Luca and Michael Cefalu made up this team.

Individually, Evan, Christopher and Willies won state championships in individual events.

The Level 10, ages 15-18, consisted of Steven Crabtree, Joseph Yellin, Pierce Goldsmith and Ikaika Jakub. These older gymnasts set examples for the younger team members to follow. Crabtree and Yellin, graduating high school seniors, will continue the sport in college.