PRESS RELEASE JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS
DECEMBER 12, 2004
JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS WINS BIG IN THREE-DAY PEPSI CHALLENGE
(BRINGS HOME TWO FIRST AND TWO SECOND-PLACE BANNERS AND A FIFTH-PLACE TROPHY)
Jacksonville Gymnastics USAG Junior Olympic Teams, both girls and boys, competed in a large three-day meet hosted by Hot Springs Gymnastics at Ouachita Baptist University. The girls’ team brought home two first-place team banners, a second-place team banner and a fifth-place team trophy. The boys’ team, in only their second meet, brought home the second-place team banner.
The Arkansas Pepsi Challenge Meet was a very large meet attended by over 500 gymnasts from 24 teams. Most of the teams were from Arkansas but a large team from Tulsa, Oklahoma, two large teams from Shreveport, and other Louisiana teams attended as well. The meet began Friday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. and ended in its sixth session Sunday night at 7:00.
Jacksonville Gymnastics, the home team of Huff ‘n Puff, had the largest team at the meet with sixty gymnasts competing (including the boys’ team of five). The girls’ team competed 55 gymnasts, Levels Four, Five, Six, Seven and Eight. The Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four team, with its 21 competitors, was larger than the entire team, all levels of 18 of the other 24 competing teams.
The Level Four gymnasts who competed Friday Night won their third first-place award for this season. They have now competed in three meets and won first place in all three. This is especially outstanding since all but five of these gymnasts are brand new competing gymnasts. Competing in this session were 92 gymnasts representing eight teams. There were two additional sessions for level four gymnasts – one Saturday morning with 75 gymnasts representing eight other teams and one session Saturday night with 19 gymnasts representing six additional teams. There was a total of 22 Level Four teams with a total of 186 gymnasts and the Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four team score was higher than any of the other competing Level Four teams, including the large out-of-state teams.
The following Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four team members won first and second-place individual all-around awards:
Age Seven Kendra Lytch Second
Age Eight Sydney Hickerson Second
Age Eight Samantha Sobba First
Age Nine Morgan Colvert First
Age Ten Cami Wright First
Age Ten and a half Kelsy Founds First
Age Eleven Caitlyn Dillon First
Age Twelve Meagan Trotter First
Mackenzie Ellis, who just turned six in November, competed in her very first meet and won first place on floor. This was the third first-place individual all-around award for new competitor Kelsy Founds and she won with a high score of 37.4. Meagan Trotter also won her third first-place individual all-around award with a 36.8 all-around score. Caitlyn Dillon won her third first-place individual all-around award with a 36.1. These
scores are out of a possible 40-point total.
The eleven members of the Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Five team competed Saturday at noon against 86 gymnasts from 18 teams. They won the fifth-place team award. They had previously won a second-place team award and a first-place team award. Seven-year-old Erica West won first-place individual all-around honors.
The ten members of the Level Six team competed Sunday morning at 8:00 and won their third consecutive first-place team trophy. This early morning session consisted of 53 gymnasts representing 17 teams and the win was a surprise to the hard-working Jacksonville gymnasts and parents. The Team won this first-place team award against at least four out-of-state and in-state larger-city teams. Jacksonville, however, had more Level Six team members than the other teams. Nine-year-old Courtney Ellis won second-place individual all-around for her age bracket and thirteen-year-old Audrey Nettles won her second first-place individual all-around award. (A gymnast competes in her age bracket at the age that she will be at the time of their State Meet so many of the gymnasts may actually be a year younger than the stated age.)
The ten members of the Level Seven team, competing in their first meet of the season, competed Saturday night and won the second-place team award. Forty-four gymnasts, representing 11 teams competed, and Jacksonville again won against teams from out-of-state and larger cities, losing only to the equal-in-number team from Tulsa, Oklahoma, which happened to be one of the toughest teams at the meet. Thirteen Level Nine gymnasts, from six teams, also competed at this same session as well as 19 Level Four
gymnasts from six teams.
All ten of the Jacksonville Level Seven Gymnasts, competing Saturday night, were new at their level. Two of the team members, nine-year-old Hannah Womack and twelve-year-old Taja’ Mitchem, competed last year at Level Five and this year jumped a level to compete at Level Seven. Fourteen-year-old Bonnie Brown won first-place individual all-around honors.
Three of the Jacksonville four new Level Eight gymnasts competed in their first meet against eight other tough experienced teams, both in-state and out-of-state. Twenty-eight Level Eight gymnasts from nine teams competed in the early Sunday morning session. The Level Eight gymnasts who competed were eleven-year-old
Emily West, thirteen-year-old Sarah McAlister and fifteen-year-old Jessica Wilde. The other team member is sixteen-year-old Meaghan Townsend.
The Jacksonville Gymnastics Men’s team was represented by five of its new team members and the gymnasts won the second-place team award. The team was only formed this summer and this was the team’s second meet. Forty-three male gymnasts, representing five teams, competed late Sunday afternoon. The Jacksonville team members who competed were seven-year-old Christopher Leirer and John Taylor; eight-year-old Matthew Klein; and nine-year-olds Michael York and Hunter Spence. Michael York won first-place individual all-around honors and Hunter Spence won the second-place all-around award. The two nine-year-old gymnasts were just one-tenth apart on their all-around scores.
The sixty-five members of the women’s Jacksonville team will have a very busy season following the holidays. They will attend a meet in Pine Bluff on Jan 8; a meet in Springfield, Missouri, on Jan 15; a meet in Shreveport, Jan 29; a meet in Little Rock on February 5, and will then host their own Sweetheart Invitational February 11-12 at Huff ‘n Puff, the team’s home gym.
The public is invited to watch the workouts of either team to learn more about the sport of gymnastics. If interested, call 985-1818 for class-time schedules.