PRESS RELEASE MARCH 7, 2004
2004 “END-OF-SEASON” MEET HELD FOR
USAG JUNIOR OLYMPIC LEVEL FOUR GYMNASTS -
JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS HAS FOUR MORE ALL-AROUND CHAMPIONS
The
2003-2004 competitive season for USAG Junior Olympic Gymnasts is coming to an
end in the State of Arkansas. The Level Four
Fun Meet, the state’s largest competitive meet for Level Four gymnasts, was held
this weekend in Barnhill Arena at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
Two hundred forty-seven gymnasts from 25 teams from across the entire state met Saturday, March 6, to compete in the Level Four Fun Meet. This end-of-the season Level Four Fun Meet determines individual all-around honors but state USAG bylaws preclude competing for team championships at Level Four. It has been deemed that not competing for team championships would relieve some of the pressure that might be felt by these youngest of the state’s competitors.
Gymnasts compete at each level, according to age, on each of the meet’s four events – the vault, the uneven bars, the balance beam and floor exercise. After determining the winner according to points earned on each of the individual events and those awards are announced, the scores are then compiled from the four events for a total score that will determine the individual all-around champion for each age, for whatever level is being competed.
Thirteen of the fifteen Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four team members competed Saturday in three different sessions, morning, early afternoon and early evening. The thirteen gymnasts who competed were six-year-old Erica West; eight-year-old LaraBeth Green-Bunch, Kassie Shepard and Kaitlin Soderlund; nine-year-old Nicole Pool and Lexie Wilson; ten-year-old Michelle LaFort; eleven-year-old Merissa Goodman, Nicolle Smith, and Rebekah Smith; twelve-year-old Dana O’Connor; and thirteen-year-old Nikki Graessle and fourteen-year-old Carma Corzine.
Two of the team members were unable to compete. Eight-year-old Lauren Boatman returned home from Fayetteville early Saturday morning after becoming ill. Nine-year-old Tori Spears was unable to compete as she was part of the Pinewood Elementary team involved in the State’s Odyssey of the Mind events held in Jacksonville Saturday.
Since there were so many Level Four gymnasts competing in this meet, some of the ages were broken down into three brackets, according to date of birth, and awards were taken out to the tenth place in each age bracket, including individual all-around awards.
In the first session, 52 nine-year-old gymnasts competed in three age-brackets. Competing in this session were two nine-year-old Jacksonville Gymnastics team members—Nichole Pool and Lexie Wilson. Nichole and Lexie earned two of the three top awards for Level Four nine-year olds, as they each earned the title “Individual All-Around Champion” for nine-year-old Level Four gymnasts.
In the second session, six-year-old, eight-year-old and twelve-year-old gymnasts competed. In this session, two more Jacksonville Gymnastic team members earned the title “Individual All-Around Champion: Erica West for six-year-old gymnasts and Dana O’Connor for the twelve-year-old gymnasts. Only one gymnast won the very top honors in ages six and twelve. Both of these Jacksonville gymnasts have won top all-around honors at several previous in-state and out-of-state meets.
In the same second session, sixty-two eight-year-old gymnasts competed and three Jacksonville Gymnastics team members won the following individual all-around honors: LaraBeth Green-Bunch won fifth place; Kaitlin Soderlund won sixth-place and Kassie Shepard won tenth place.
In the evening session, 78 gymnasts--ten, eleven and thirteen-year-olds-and-above competed. The competing Jacksonville gymnasts won the following honors: Ten-year-old Michelle LaFort won 8th place on vault. Eleven-year-olds who won individual all-around honors were: Rebekah Smith, fifth place; Nicolle Smith, seventh place, and Merissa Goodman, eighth place. In the thirteen-and-above age group, the following Jacksonville gymnasts won individual all-around awards: Nikki Graessle, seventh place and Carma Corzine, eighth.
The Level Four gymnasts had this season previously earned many top individual all-around awards and six first-place team awards.
The Level Four gymnasts are part of the Jacksonville Gymnastics Team at Huff ‘n Puff. The competitive team currently consists of Levels Four, Five, Six, and Seven. The competitive team was formed by Head Coach Laurel Spears five years ago when she reactivated the Jacksonville Gymnastics team name and she competed eleven Level Four gymnasts. The team now consists of 36 active team members – fifteen Level Four gymnasts, ten Level Five gymnasts, four Level Six gymnasts and seven Level Seven gymnasts. Training for Level Eight gymnasts will begin in a few weeks after the state meets. Erin Wunderl and Shane McDonald join Laurel in the full-time coaching duties. Bobby Churches, Denise Townsend, Lois Bryan and Stacy Holleman are assistant coaches.
The State Championship Meets for Arkansas higher-level gymnasts will begin this weekend. The State Meet for Levels Six, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten will be held Saturday, March 13, in Little Rock, and the State Meet for Level Five will be held March 27, in Fort Smith.
