OH WHAT A DAY!!!!! JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS TEAM WINS BIG AT THE PINE BLUFF YANKEE DOODLE DANDY
USAG COMPETITIVE MEET
The six competitive levels of the Jacksonville Gymnastics USAG Junior Olympic Competitive team attended the first meet of 2007 this weekend and they won the First-Place Team Trophies for Levels Five, Six, Seven and Eight. The Yankee Doodle Dandy competition, hosted by Flip Flop Gymnastics of Pine Bluff, was held at the Pine Bluff Convention Center and attended by over 350 gymnasts from seventeen Arkansas teams. The meet began Friday afternoon and ended late Saturday night. The Jacksonville team competed 69 of their 78 gymnasts in the four sessions of the meet. The other teams represented at the meet were Champions Gymnastics – Jonesboro, Delta Gymnastics, Dorsey’s Gymnastics, Flip-Flop Gym and Cheer, Gym Twisters, Hot Springs Gymnastics, Great Expectations, Mega Gymnastics, North Little Rock Superstars, River City Gymnastics, Russellville Dance & Gymnastics, Stars Gymnastics, Stars and Stripes, Tena’s Gymnastics, Westside YMCA and X-Treme
Gymnastics.
Levels Three and Four competed on Friday night and another session of Level Four gymnasts competed at the same time as the Level Six gymnasts on Saturday morning. Jacksonville competed 37 Level Three and Level Four gymnasts in the Friday night session and the four home-town coaches were very busy, as the team competed three events all at the same time for the entire session. It was also difficult but fun for the parents to keep up with events and the scoring while the team was split into three competing groups.
Of the 38 Level Three gymnasts from three teams who competed Friday night, 19 were from the Jacksonville team. Team trophies were not awarded for the Level Three teams, but the Jacksonville team did very well, scoring 111 points out of a possible 120. In addition to many individual event honors, the Jacksonville Level Three gymnasts also won eleven top individual all-around honors. Winning those top individual all-around honors for their age bracket were:
Mattie Taylor Age six First
Abby Houghtaling Age seven First
Miranda Chambers Age seven Second
Lakyn Powers Age seven Third
Kayla McGee Age eight First
Sierra Rohauer Age eight Second
Regan Campbell Age eight Third
Katy Gorden Age nine First
Briyana Isaac Age nine Second
Victoria Maness Age ten First
Lauren Foster Age ten Second
Kneeling from left to right are Level Three gymnasts: Lainey Necessary, Lauren Foster, Victoria Maness and Briyana Isaacs. Second row from left to right are Kayla Gregory, Regan Campbell, Lakyn Powers, Katy Gorden and Sarah Siebel. Third row seated are Abby Houghtaling, Sierra Rohauer, Sydney Hughes, Natalie Donley, Sara Heil, Sarah Beavers, Kayla McGee, Mattie Taylor, Miranda Chambers and Hali Wilder.
Gymnasts compete under the age that they will be at the State Meet – the exception being the Level Three gymnasts whose competition age changes on their birthday and a young seven-year-old might be competing against older seven-year old gymnasts, but with the other levels, a seven-year-old gymnast whose birthday happened to be in March might be competing against an eight-year-old gymnast who would turn nine in April.
Also competing in the same Friday night session were 64 Level Four gymnasts from six Arkansas teams, including 17 of the Jacksonville Level Four gymnasts. The team won the Second-Place Team Trophy and in addition to many top individual event awards, the Jacksonville Level Four gymnasts also won twelve of the top individual all-around awards. The other group of 73 Level Four gymnasts from nine other Arkansas teams competed for their awards Saturday morning. The Jacksonville Level Four gymnasts who won top honors were:
Tonie Butler Age seven First
Jordan Rogers Age seven Second
Lynzie VanBrocklin Age eight First Flight A
Madi Spears Age eight Second Flight A
Katherine Taylor Age eight Third Flight A
Allison Shaw Age eight Third Flight B
Rachel Flippen Age nine First Flight A
Alex Taylor Age nine First Flight B
Hannah Taylor Age nine Second Flight B
Savannah Wade Age ten Third
Kennedy Driskill Age eleven Second
Nidhi Gandi Age twelve Second
Although Savannah Wade placed third place in the all-around with a score of 37.4, she was only .45 of a point under first place, and additionally, she had the highest meet score of the Jacksonville team members.
Level Four - Kneeling from left to right are Madi Spears, Katherine Taylor, Sydney McGill, Jessica Gardner, Jordan Rogers, Katie Trujillo and Tonie Butler. Back row, from left to right are Lauren Anderson, Nidhi Gandi, Kennedy Driskell, Alex Taylor, Hannah Taylor, Rachel Flippen, Lynzie VanBrocklin, Savannah Wade, Anja Tech, Maggie Lee and Allison Shaw.
Due to technical difficulties, the meet ran a bit overtime. For the only time, our gymnasts were excused to leave if they chose to before team awards were presented. These were our diehards!!!! Thanks girls and parents - I was going to look sort of silly receiving the trophy.
Competing in the early Saturday morning session (at the same time as the 73 Level Four gymnasts) were the 24 Level Six gymnasts from eight teams, including the seven Jacksonville Level Six gymnasts. Jacksonville won the First-Place Team Trophy and top individual all-around honors were awarded to:
Samantha Sobba Age ten First
Tori Spears Age twelve First
Kelsy Founds Age twelve Second
Caitlyn Dillon Age thirteen First
LEVEL SIX GYMNASTS - from left to right – Cassidy Eberle, Samantha Sobba, Jessica McDonough, Caitlyn Dillon, Kimmie Edwards, Kelsy Founds and Tori Spears.
Optional gymnasts--Levels Seven, Eight and Nine--competed in the early afternoon session. Competing against several of the top teams in the state, Jacksonville won both the Level Seven First-Place trophy and the Level Eight First-Place Trophy. (Although gymnasts are always working on their skills of their competing level, they are always working toward the skills of the next higher lever, and several of the Jacksonville Gymnasts will be competing Level Nine during the next competitive season).
Eight teams competed 42 Level Seven gymnasts, which included eight of the Jacksonville Gymnasts. Besides winning the First-Place Team Trophy, the following Level Seven individual all-around individual awards were won by Jacksonville gymnasts:
Haley Edgin Age nine First Place
Tori Hanley Age twelve First Place
LEVEL SEVEN GYMNASTS - from left to right – Allyson Ferren, Haley Edgin, Tori Hanley, April Pitts, Samantha Gray, Krista Carlisle and Mackenzie Powers.
Eleven gymnasts from six teams competed Level Eight including four of the Jacksonville Level Eight gymnasts who won the First-Place Team Trophy and, additionally, the following individual all-around awards:
Courtney Ellis Age eleven First Place
Taylor Rai Johnson Age thirteen Third Place
Kelsy Lerner Age fifteen Second Place
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Eight Gymnasts, winning First Place LEVEL EIGHT, are shown here - from left to right, Taylor Rai Johnson, Courtney Ellis, Kelsey Lerner and Kayla Edgin.
Competing in the last session of the day on Saturday were 87 Level Five gymnasts from twelve teams, including eleven of the Level Five gymnasts from Jacksonville. The day had already gone very well for Jacksonville, having won previously the First-Place Team Trophies for Levels Six, Seven and Eight. The day was really special though when the team placements for Level Five were announced and the First-Place Team Trophy was awarded to Jacksonville Gymnastics. Additionally, the individual all-around honors were awarded to:
Mackenzie Ellis Age eight Second Place
Kendra Lytch Age nine First Place
Taylor Butler Age nine Second Place
Stephanie Singleton Age twelve Second Place
Carol Walters Age thirteen First Place
Madison Winstead Age thirteen Second Place
Level Five Gymnasts, from left to right, Mackenzie Ellis, Bailea Jones, Kendra Lytch, Amanda Hicks, Taylor Butler, Allison Storeygard, Carol Walters, Madison Winstead, Terionna Stewart, Tiffany Maxwell and Stephanie Singleton.
It had been a hard meet with the usual early and late session times, combined with very little sleep due to the length of the sessions, plus the travel time between Jacksonville and Pine Bluff, but suddenly the weariness was forgotten and the adrenalin surged again. Much credit goes to our gymnasts and our coaches. All of these gymnasts work so hard all year long, spending as many as six to sixteen hours weekly in the gym (depending on the level of the gymnast). The coaches work many, many hours weekly, working with the gymnasts on conditioning and teaching the skills, then training the gymnast on the skill until the gymnast can attain the desired level of perfection. Coaching gymnastics requires much empathy, patience and understanding of the student, and the parents as well, because competitive gymnastics is a sport that usually involves the entire family.
The competitive coaches responsible for the continuing success of the Jacksonville Gymnastics Competitive Team--whose home gym is the 19,000 square foot Huff ‘n Puff Gym--are Head Coach Laurel Spears, Assistant Head Coach Erin Wunderl, and Stacy Howerton, Lois Bryan and Christy Ellis. The team is scheduled to compete in the future at Batesville; Sprindale; Shreveport, Louisiana; Bartlesville, Oklahoma; and at the gym’s own Sweetheart Invitational to be held at the Jacksonville High School February 16, 17 & 18th.