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JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS
TEAM HISTORY IS MADE
Jacksonville Gymnastics Competitive Level Nine Team Gymnasts, Kayla Edgin and Taylor Rai Johnson, made Team history Saturday, May 9th as they competed in the 2009 Level Nine Western National Gymnastics Competition at Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Last year, in the 2007-2008 season, Kayla Edgin became the first Level Nine Gymnast to compete for Jacksonville Gymnastics. This season, 2008-2009, Kayla was joined by Courtney Ellis, Taylor Rai Johnson, Sarah McAlister, and her own younger sister Haley Edgin, thus forming the first Level Nine Team to compete for Jacksonville Gymnastics. It takes the scores of three team members to compete as a team, and, in the 08-09 season, Arkansas had only two teams competing at Level Nine the Jacksonville Gymnastics Team of five gymnasts and one other team of three Level Nine Team gymnasts.
The Jacksonville Level Nine Team competed in eight meets during the season--five in-state and three out-of-state meets that were held in Shreveport, Memphis and Texas. The team placed fourth in the Memphis and Texas meets, and first in Shreveport. They placed second in one in-state meet and first in the other three in-state meets. They went on to win the 2009 Level Nine State Championship title, with four of the gymnasts qualifying for Level Nine Regional Competition (Sarah was injured and could not compete.)
The Region Three competition was held in mid-April in Denver, Colorado. The four gymnastsHaley, Kayla, Courtney and Taylor Rai, along with their mothers and Coaches Laurel and Erinarrived in Colorado, with the 30-inch snowfall following them into the state. The four team gymnasts along with four other Arkansas gymnasts, competed with about 190 gymnasts from the seven states that comprise Region Three Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and Arkansas. Besides the prestige, the gymnasts at the Regional Competition received a leotard of the color that represented their state.
Of these gymnasts, 93 competitors from Region Three qualified for the Western National Competition, including four gymnasts representing Arkansas, two of whom are from Jacksonville Gymnastics Kayla Edgin and Taylor Rai Johnson. Jacksonville Gymnastics was especially pleased to have two gymnasts represent our local team, in that we had been informed that there was more than a several-year period when Arkansas had no one qualify to attend the national competition.
Taylor Rai Johnson and Kayla Edgin
The Western National Competition was held May 8-9-10, 2009 in the Conoco-Phillips-Adams Sports Facility in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
About 380 gymnasts from four regions competed at this three-day, eight-session National Competition for the western states (25 designated states) at the same time that gymnasts from 25 eastern states competed in Tupelo, Mississippi for the Eastern National Competition. Gymnasts who competed in the national competitions received a leotard of the color representing their Region, plus a warm-up suit that was the same for both Western and Eastern National competitors.
Four accredited officials judged each event for a total of sixteen judges, plus timing and line judges or officials. The judges were from California, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. Jacksonville Gymnastics Team Levels had been judged previously by two of the judges from Oklahoma.
The four regions were represented by the following states and the number of teams listed; some teams also had several gymnasts representing their team.
Region One: Arizona 8; California 39; Nevada 4; Utah - 2
Region Two: Alaska 0; Hawaii 4; Idaho 6; Montana 0; Oregon 9; Washington 13
Region Three: Arkansas 3 (four gymnasts); Colorado 12; Kansas 3; New Mexico 4; Oklahoma 6; Texas 28; Wyoming - 0
Region Four: Iowa 3; Minnesota 15; Missouri 8; Nebraska 4; North Dakota 1; South Dakota 1; Wisconsin 9
The competition was broken down into eight sessions and the gymnasts were divided by ages to comprise two groups per session. Our gymnasts attended the fifth session which began at 12:30 Saturday afternoon. The two groups that competed were Senior Seven and Senior Eight Senior Eight gymnasts being a little older than Senior Seven gymnasts. There were 49 gymnasts competing in this session and three of the Arkansas gymnasts competed together in the session. The fourth Arkansas gymnast, a graduating senior, competed in the last session of the Sunday competition.
The gymnasts were introduced with the pageantry due a national competition darkness, with colored lights circling the upper area with a spotlight centered on the door where the gymnasts, in their beautiful blue warmups, entered by Region and age group.
The National Anthem was beautifully sung by a young man from Bartlesville High School and at the end, the lights started coming on in increments, which led to the further excitement of the competition.
The Awards were presented in this beautiful Swimming pool area of the Center. By presenting the awards in this area, the competition area was available for the next session of the competition. This was just one part of the beautiful sports complex at the Conoco-Phillips-Adams Facility.
The first all-around gymnast from the younger senior group was from Region Two, out of the State of Washington. The first all-around gymnast from the older senior group was from Region One out of a team from California. The team winners for Group Seven was Region One, with Region Three (our region) coming in second. Actually, the team winners for Group Eight was the same Region One winning the team award and Region Three coming in second. This was just for the session we attended we dont know about the entire meet.
It was a great experience for the gymnasts and our coaches, and we all had a great time.
We hope to have even more gymnasts attend next year. The Level Nine gymnasts are coached by Team Coaches Laurel Spears and Erin Wunderl. The Jacksonville Gymnastics Competitive Team was formed by Laurel Spears in 1998 with eleven competing Level Four gymnasts and has now grown to 74 gymnasts, who compete at Levels Three through Nine. The Team has won several State Championship Team Titles, in addition to many Individual All-Around and Event State Titles.
The gymnasts will change to a new schedule over the summer months and will train for more hours than during the school year. Each gymnast is working on new skills and hoping to move to the next level or become more accomplished at their present skill.
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