Press Release May 6, 2010
CABOT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT COMPETES IN WESTERN NATIONAL GYMNASTICS COMPETITION
Taylor Rai Johnson, a sophomore at Cabot High School, recently competed in the Western National Gymnastics Competition that was held in Des Moines, Iowa. Nearly 500 high-caliber Level Nine gymnasts from 24 western states competed for national championship honors.
The Level Nine Eastern and Western Championships are the competitive season’s culmination event and include the best Level Nine gymnasts in the Country.
In order to qualify to compete at this National meet, Taylor Rai had to first qualify for the Region Three Competition while competing at the Arkansas State Meet. She was one of nine gymnasts from Arkansas to qualify to compete in the Region Three Competition at Rio Rancho (near Albuquerque) New Mexico.
Over 200 top gymnasts from the seven-state area competed at this Level Nine-Level Ten Regional Competition. Taylor Rai was one of four gymnasts from Arkansas who qualified at the Region Three Competition to attend the Western National Competition.
Johnson is looking forward to attending a week-long advanced training camp this summer in Wisconsin. Her name was chosen in a drawing held in her competitive session. The camp will be free but she will have to pay for her round-trip transportation.
Taylor Rai is a member of the Jacksonville Gymnastics 2010 Level Nine State Championship team and was also on the Team when they won the 2009 State title. She is shown here at her home gym.
A gymnast does not earn the privilege of going to a national championship meet overnight. Many hours of training are devoted to the sport of gymnastics. During the school year, Taylor Rai trains sixteen hours a week, working out at her home gym at Huff ‘n Puff in Jacksonville. She, along with her teammates, work out for four hours a night, four nights a week. This summer she will train for 20 hours weekly during the day instead of at night. (So, when her friends are hanging out at the pool, she and her teammates will be working out and training in the gym.) She has been in gymnastics for thirteen years.
Taylor Rai began gymnastics at the age of three and began competing at Level Four when she was six. Nowadays, many six-year-old gymnasts compete at Level Two or Three. Taylor Rai was a State All-Around Champion at Level Six. Winning All-Around means having the highest total score on the four events—vault, uneven bars, beam and floor.
Taylor Rai is now working on even more difficult skills and feats to compete next year at Level Ten. This year there were only four Level Ten gymnasts in the State of Arkansas, and one of those was her teammate at Jacksonville Gymnastics. The Jacksonville Team is looking forward to having more than one Level Ten gymnast on their team next year and Taylor Rai will be a big part of that team.
Johnson is shown here as she competes a very difficult feat—the pax—as she flips between the high bar and catches the low bar.
Johnson has been a student in the Cabot school district for five years, beginning in the Sixth Grade at Middle School South. She played flute in the Junior High South band for three years and in the CHS band during her sophomore year.