ARKANSAS STATE

GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIP

gOING OUT WITH a BANG

LEVEL FIVE

2005

PRESS RELEASE                                                                                             MARCH 6, 2005

JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS TEAMS BRING HOME STATE TEAM HONORS

AND

INDIVIDUAL ALL-AROUND CHAMPIONSHIP HONORS

It was a good competitive weekend for both men's and women's gymnastics teams from Jacksonville. Saturday, the State Meet for Men's Teams in Arkansas was held in Jonesboro and the State Meet for Women's Teams, Level Five, was held in Searcy. The Jacksonville Gymnastics teams, whose home gym is Huff 'n Puff, came home with individual State Titles and Team State Banners. The Men's team won the Second-place Team Banner for Level Four and the Women's team won the Fifth-Place Team Banner for Level Five.  Gymnasts from each team won individual all-around state titles.

The gymnasts from Jacksonville's USAG Junior Olympic Women's Competitive Team, Level Five, competed in three sessions Saturday at the Ganus Athletic Center at Harding University.  One hundred and seventy-one Level Five gymnasts, representing twenty-five teams from across the state, met to vie for team championship awards and individual championship awards. The gymnasts from Jacksonville competing at Level Five were seven-year old Haley Edgin and Erica West; eight-year-old Mackenzie Powers, nine-year old Samantha Gray and Kaitlin Soderlund; ten-year-old Cassidy Eberle, Marisa Grissom, Tiffany Maxwell and Tori Spears; and eleven-year-old April Pitts.

In the sport of gymnastics in Arkansas, a gymnast always competes at the age she will be at the time of the State Meet and against other gymnasts of the same age.  Most of the time, this works out extremely fair for all. There might be a few exceptions, however, for example when a gymnast might be only eight years old for most of the season but would turn nine just before the state meet. As an eight-year-old, she could be competing against a nine-year-old gymnast who might be turning ten just after the state meet. The eight-year-old would be classified as a nine-year-old and the almost ten-year old would also be classified as a nine-year-old. But all in all, competing by age and level works out best for all.

The one hundred seventy-one Level Five gymnasts competing at this State Meet were broken down into the different age categories: age seven - seven gymnasts; age eight - twenty-seven gymnasts; age nine - thirty-three gymnasts; age ten - thirty-eight gymnasts; age eleven “ thirty-five gymnasts; age 12 - twenty gymnasts; and age thirteen and above 11 gymnasts.

A few teams in the state do not have level five gymnasts, but those competing were:  Aspire, Cabot, Champions of Jonesboro, Champions of Paragould, Dorsey's, Durham's, Flame, Flip Flop, Gym Classics, Gym Stars, Gym Twisters, Hot Springs, Jacksonville, Lee, One on One, Regional Rec, River City, SAGA, Sharon's, Stars and Stripes, Tena's, Westside Y, Williams, and X-treme.

In this meet, the eight and nine-year old gymnasts competed in the morning session; the seven, eleven and thirteen and above gymnasts competed at noon and the ten and twelve-year old gymnasts competed in the evening session.

Individual all-around awards were given for the separate age groups after each session and the team awards were totaled and awarded after the last session. At State Meet for Level Five Gymnasts, a team's five top scores for each event the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise--are taken to determine the team's scores for the event and the four event scores are then totaled for the team score. In this way, each gymnast on the team may be contributing points to the team's overall score.

Team trophies were awarded starting with the fourteenth team thru the sixth team and State banners were awarded for the top five teams.  The Jacksonville Gymnasts Level Five Team will proudly display their fifth-place team banner in their home gym. The Jacksonville Gymnasts also won several state-level individual awards.  Erica West, with an overall score of 35.475 is the All-Around State Champion for Arkansas seven-year olds; and her Jacksonville teammate, seven-year old Haley Edgin, with a score of 35.375 is second-place State Champion. Jacksonville gymnast, April Pitts, won the third place for eleven-year old gymnasts, with a score of 36.475.  Haley and April each placed first on the vault, which makes them each the 2005 Level Five Vault Champion for their age bracket.

The Jacksonville Level Five Team attended nine meets this season, including their State Meet. The Level Five gymnasts won three first-place team trophies, one second-place team trophy, two third-place team trophies, (one of those was won at a large meet in Springfield, Missouri, and the other was won was at their own gym for the Sweetheart Invitational Meet.)  They won fifth-place team banner at the large Pepsi Challenge and fifth-place team banner at State. The team has done very well this season; the team members are only seven to eleven years old, they are all new gymnasts at this level except one, and one of their team members has been out of the competition the last half of the season with a serious illness.

The other team members will soon attend their 2004-2005 culminating events. The Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four gymnasts will attend their Fun Meet Friday, March 18, in Fayetteville. The Jacksonville Gymnastics Levels Six, Seven and Eight gymnasts will attend their State Meet on Saturday, March 19, also in Fayetteville.  

 

Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Five Team Brings Home Fifth-Place Team Banner from 2005 State Meet Shown from left to right are Samantha Gray, Marisa Grissom, Haley Edgin, Tori Spears, April Pitts, Tiffany Maxwell, Erica West, Kaitlin Soderlund, Mackenzie Powers and Cassidy Eberle.

Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Five Team Members Celebrate Winning Individual Championship Honors in State Meet and they enjoy the friendship and camaraderie that come with working so closely with their team members. Shown here, from left to right are: Eleven-year-old April Pitts, and seven-year-olds Haley Edgin and Erica West. Erica had the highest individual overall score and is the 2005 Level Five State All-Around Champion for age seven and Haley is the second-place Champion for same age. April is the third-place State Champion for age eleven.