JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS TEAM
ATTENDS THREE-DAY MEET AT PINE BLUFF
Jacksonville competed 80 gymnasts from Levels Three through Eight and brought home three first-place team trophies and two third-place trophies. No team trophies are given for Level Three competitions, but the Jacksonville Level Threes had a phenomenal meet.
Eight teams competed 98 Level Four gymnasts in the Friday night session. The next morning, 83 more Level Four gymnasts from eleven other teams competed. The sessions were so large that age groups were divided further into Flight A and Flight B. The format for the entire competition was “warm-up and compete,” and warm-ups began at 5:00. After the initial warm-up and stretch, the meet began at 5:30 as the teams went to their individual events to begin their timed event warmups.
Scores for each gymnast’s four event scores -- vault, uneven bars, beam and floor exercise -- are totaled to determine each gymnast’s all-around score. The gymnasts of each age group are then given a placement based on their all-around scores. A perfect score for each event is ten with a total of 40 points for the four events.
Many of the Jacksonville Gymnasts, all levels, won individual events; additionally, many of Jacksonville gymnasts had very high individual all-around scores.
On Friday night, Jacksonville Gymnastics Team competed 26 Level Four gymnasts, ages seven to twelve, and the Team won the Third-Place Team Trophy. The following gymnasts won individual all-around honors for Level Four:
Flight A Age seven Mackenzie Ellis Third Place 35.3
Flight A Age eight Bailea Jones Second Place 37.1
Flight B Age eight Kendra Lytch Third Place 36.4
Flight B Age ten Allison Storeygard Third Place 36.3
No Flight Age twelve Madison Winstead Second Place 37.2
Twenty-six members of the Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four team won the Third-Place Team Trophy. Competing gymnasts pictured left to right front row are: Hayley Henley, Kendra Lytch, Allison Storeygard. Second row, Janey’a Hutton, Katherine Taylor, Lynzie VanBrocklin, Sabrina Barger, Amanda Hicks, Natalie Ruiz-Castillo, Madison Winstead, Bailea Jones. Back row: Ashton Bussard, Ashley Harmon, Savannah Wade, Terionna Stewart, Madi Spears, Abby Grappe, Kaylen Perkins, Katie Trujillo, Lexi Webb, Taylor Butler, Alex Taylor, Mackenzie Ellis and Hannah Taylor. Not pictured but also competing was Sarah Jane Womack.
Fifteen Level Eight and three Level Nine gymnasts, representing seven teams, competed simultaneously with Level Five gymnasts in the Saturday noon session. Five of the six-member Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Eight Team competed and won the First-Place Team Trophy. Individual all-around honors were awarded to:
Taylor Rai’ Johnson Age 12 Second Place
Kelsey Lerner Age 14 First Place
Sarah McAlister Age 14 Second Place tie
Proudly displaying their First-Place Team trophy were these Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Eight team members. These gymnasts, who work very hard for many hours weekly to prepare for meets, are left to right: Kayla Edgin, Tailor Rai’ Johnson, Jessica Wilde, Sarah McAlister and Kelsey Lerner.
Forty-three Level Six gymnasts from twelve teams and 32 Level Seven gymnasts from eight teams competed in the Saturday evening session. The nine Jacksonville Level Six gymnasts won the First-Place Team award and the following gymnasts won all-around honors:
Haley Edgin Age 8 First Place
Samantha Gray Age 10 Second Place
Tori Hanley Age 11 Second Place
April Pitts Age 12 Third Place
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Six Team members shown here had just won the First-Place Team Trophy at the Yankee Doodle Dandy Annual Competitive Meet held at Pine Bluff Convention Center, where over 460 gymnasts from nineteen teams competed. These gymnasts, competing proudly as Jacksonville team members, represent the Central Arkansas area as they are from Searcy, Beebe, Maumelle, Alexander, Sherwood and Jacksonville. Pictured here are: Cassidy Eberle, Samantha Gray, April Pitts, Mackenzie Powers, Tori Spears, Haley Edgin, Tori Hanley, Morgan Bussard and Allison Ferren.
The Jacksonville twelve-member Level Seven Team won the Third-Place Team award. Each of the three top teams had a score of 109 plus the tenths that determined the winner. The Team had a higher team score than in previous meets and all the team members contributed to the team score.
Also representing Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Seven Team are these central Arkansas gymnasts who won the Third-Place Team Trophy. The three top Level Seven teams each had a score of 109 plus tenths and the tenths made the difference between first and third. Competing and shown front row: Brooke Nevins, Courtney Ellis and Madison Ellis. Back row, left to right are: Sissy Ghormley, Rene’e LaFort, Audrey Nettles, Missy Whittecar, Taja’ Mitchem, Shannon Mavity and Krista Carlisle. Also competing but not shown were Hannah Womack and Kierra Daniel.
Sixty-four Level Five gymnasts, representing seven teams, competed in the early session on Sunday. Seven-two Level Five gymnasts from eight other teams had competed on Saturday afternoon. Twelve of the Jacksonville thirteen-member Level Five team competed in the Sunday session and won the First-Place Team Award.
The following Jacksonville gymnasts won top individual all-around honors:
Terra Johnson Age 9 First Place
Kaitlin Soderlund Age 10 First Place
Kelsy Founds Age 11 Second Place
Stephanie Scroggins Age 12 First Place
Winning First-Place Team Trophy were these Level Five Jacksonville Gymnastics Team Members. Shown here first row, left to right, Caitlyn Dillon, Kimmie Edwards, Stephanie Singleton. Back row, left to right, are: Tiffany Maxwell, Kelsy Founds, Carol Walters, Marisa Grissom, Stephanie Scroggins, Cami Wright, Terra Johnson, Lauren McKibben and Kaitlin Soderlund. Unable to compete in this meet was Samantha Sobba.
The fifteen Jacksonville Level Three gymnasts, who competed Sunday afternoon, were among the more than 54 Level Three gymnasts, representing five teams, to compete in the Sunday afternoon session. No team awards are given for Level Three competitions but the Jacksonville Level Three team scores continue to rise. Their meet score was 116.8 with individual scores as high as 9.95 on the vault, 9.8 on the bars, 9.750 on the beam and 9.7 on the floor. Individual all-around honors were awarded to the following gymnasts: (Reminder, a 40 is a perfect score and their team score of 116.8 is even more phenomenal if you think about a perfect team score for top three would be 120 points!!!!)
Tonie Butler Age 5 First Place 38.7
Jordan Rogers Age 5 Second Place 37.75
Sydney McGill Age 6 First Place 37.55
Allison Shaw Age 7 Second Place 37.65
Anja Tech Age 7 Fourth Place 37.55
Samantha Wade Age 8 First Place 38.25
Jessica Gardner Age 8 Third Place 35.75
Jacksonville won the top four awards for age ten gymnasts, Level Three.
Kennedy Driskill Age 10 First Place 38.65
Lauren Anderson Age 10 Second Place 38.1
Hayley Paddock Age 10 Third Place 37.95
Christina Hensley Age 10 Fourth Place 36.7
Nidhi Gandhi Age 11 First Place 38.1
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Three Competitive Gymnasts smile happily after their session at Pine Bluff Convention Center – and with good reason. This group of gymnasts, ages five to eleven, had just successfully competed for a GREAT team score of 116.8. No team awards are given for Level Three meets, but these gymnasts have the satisfaction of knowing how well they have competed plus they each have five medals for their four events and individual all-around honors. Pictured from left to right on the first row are Samantha Wade, Jordan Rogers, Aspen Goldman, and Rebecca Goldman. Second row are Anja Tech, Allison Shaw, Tonie Butler, Maggie Lee and Sydney McGill. Third row gymnasts are Lauren Anderson, Kennedy Driskill, Christina Hensley, Jessica Gardner, Hayley Paddock and Nidhi Gandhi.
The Level Three Team will compete this Saturday morning, January 14th at 8:00 at Champions Gym in Jonesboro.
The rest of the team members, Levels Four, Five, Six, Seven and Eight, will compete January 20 – 22 in the Louisiana Cup Invitational Meet in Shreveport, Louisiana. This meet is co-hosted by Centenary College Gymnastics and Acrosports and is attended by teams from at least five southern states. This will be the fourth year for Jacksonville Gymnastics to attend the Louisiana meet and last year they won Level Four First-Place Team Award and the Level Six Team lost first place to a large Houston team by only ¾ of one-tenth of a point. The team members and parents are looking forward to the meet and many will be able to also attend the college-level meet on Friday night at the Gold Dome on Centenary College. The meet will be between the Centenary College, Air Force and University of Missouri teams.
The Jacksonville Team coaches and staff at Huff ‘n Puff are also busily preparing for their own sixth Annual Sweetheart Invitational which will be held February 11-12th. It is expected that over 500 gymnasts from several states will attend this meet.