Photos on this page are by QualityAction Photography before being sent for posters - These were taken at the meet and no retouching has been done.
Over 531 gymnasts from 24 Arkansas and Mississippi teams attended a competitive gymnastics meet this weekend at North Pulaski High School. The meet, hosted by Jacksonville Gymnastics, was held in six sessions that began Friday night and ended late Sunday afternoon. This was the Sixth Annual Sweetheart Invitational competitive meet, and before this year, the meet had always been held in the team’s home gym at Huff ‘n Puff. However, it is estimated that this year, nearly three thousand gymnasts, parents, grandparents, siblings and friends came to Jacksonville to attend this meet. Double sets of equipment for each event were needed to handle the size of the meet. In addition to many large mats and equipment brought from the home gym, the rest of the equipment and mats required for the meet filled two trailers that were nearly as large as semi truck trailers. Five medals were awarded to each gymnast – one for each event – the vault, beam, bars and floor exercise – and the fifth for individual all-around placements. Banners were presented for team placement awards – usually for first, second, third and fourth, depending on how many teams were represented for each session.
Teams from Arkansas that attended this meet were from West Memphis, Batesville, Jonesboro, Paragould, Searcy, Cabot, North Little Rock, Little Rock, Sheridan, Pine Bluff, Hot Springs, Arkadelphia, Hope, Maumelle, Conway, Russellville, Fort Smith, Camden, and Jacksonville. The Elite 11 Team was from Tupelo, Mississippi. The USAG accredited judges were from Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The meet began with the Friday night 5:30 session for Level Four gymnasts. In spite of the snow during the day Friday, which was heavy in some parts of the state, over 89 Level Four gymnasts, ages six to over 13, attended the first session.
One Hundred Six gymnasts, including 28 Jacksonville Gymnasts, attended the Saturday morning Level Four session that began at 8:00. Jacksonville won Second Place and the team from Mississippi, Elite 11, won First Place. Individual All-Around honors were awarded to the following Jacksonville Gymnastics team members:
Mackenzie Ellis Third Place for Age Seven;
Bailea Jones First Place for Age Eight
Kendra Lytch Second Place for Age Eight
(Kendra had also scored a 9.8 for her floor exercise and Bailea received a 9.750 for vault.)
Allison Storeygard First Place for Age Ten
Natalie Ruiz Castillo Second Place for Age Eleven
Madison Winstead First Place for Age Twelve
What a great looking bunch of young ladies!!!
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four Team
Photo by Quality Action Photography taken at meet - has not been sent for poster yet nor has any retouching been done.
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four Team members shown here won the Second-PlaceTeam Banner at the meet hosted by their Team February 10-11-12 at North Pulaski High School gym. A capacity crowd was present for each of the six sessions. Gymnasts from left to right, front row are: Lyndzie VanBrocklin, TaLori Mosby, Savannah Wade, Madi Spears, Katie Trujillo, Abby Grappe, Rachel Flippen, Katherine Taylor, and Mackenzie Ellis. Second row, left to right, are Bailea Mitchell-Jones, Terionna Stewart, Sabrina Barger, Ashley Harmon, Hannah Taylor, Alex Taylor, Sarah Jane Womack, Taylor Butler, and Kendra Lytch. Third row, left to right, are Amanda Hicks, Ashton Bussard, Madison Winstead, Natalie Ruiz-Castillo, Janey’a Hutton, Allison Storeygard, Hayley Henley, Kaylen Perkins and Lexie Webb.
Thirty-eight Level Five gymnasts from eight teams, along with 42 Level Seven gymnasts from nine teams, competed in the 12:30 session. Eleven of the twelve Level Seven Team members from Jacksonville competed and won Second Place, with Elite 11 from Mississippi again winning First Place.
Individual All-Around awards were presented to the following Jacksonville Level Seven gymnasts:
Courtney Ellis First Place for Age Ten
Sissy Ghormley Second Place for Age Thirteen
Shannon Mavity Third Place for Age Thirteen
Missy Whittecar First Place for Age Fourteen
Audrey Nettles Third Place for Age Fourteen
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Seven Team
Jacksonville Level Seven Gymnasts who won the Second-Place Team Banner are pictured here. Front row is Courtney Ellis; kneeling from left to right are Brooke Nevins, Madison Ellis, Kierra Daniel, Hannah Womack and Taje’ Mitchem. Standing are Missy Whittecar, Rene’e LaFort, Shannon Mavity, Krista Carlisle, Audrey Nettles and Sissy Ghormley. Jacksonville Level Seven gymnasts are required to be able to accomplish a back handspring on the beam and a giant circle on the bars.
In the third session of the day, which began at 5:30, Levels Six, Eight, Nine and Ten competed. Jacksonville competed nine Level Six team members and they won Third-Place Team Banner.
The following Jacksonville gymnasts won Individual All-Around honors:
Haley Edgin First Place for Age Eight
Samantha Gray Second Place for Age Ten
Tori Hanley Second Place for Age Eleven
2005 - 2006 Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Six Team
Over 531 gymnasts from 24 teams competed in this large three-day meet. The Jacksonville Level Six Team Members who won the Third-Place Team Banner shown, kneeling left to right, are Mackenzie Powers, Haley Edgin, April Pitts and Tori Hanley. On second row, left to right are Samantha Gray, Tori Spears, Morgan Bussard, Cassidy Eberle and Allison Ferren.
In the same evening session, 24 Level Eight gymnasts from seven teams competed, including the six Level Eight gymnasts from Jacksonville. Jacksonville won the Second-Place Team Banner. Kelsey Lerner won Third-Place All-Around for age 14 and Jessica Wilde won Third Place All-Around for age sixteen.
Also competing in this same evening session were seven Level Nine gymnasts from five teams and two Level Ten gymnasts, one from Arkansas and other from Mississippi.
2005 - 2006 Jacksonville Gymnastics USAG Junior Olympic
Level Eight Competitive Team
Ninety-two Level Five gymnasts from nine teams competed in the Sunday morning session that began at 9:00. Included in this number were the fourteen team members from Jacksonville, who won the Fourth-Place Team Banner. Kelsy Founds won Third-Place Individual All-Around for age eleven.
Jacksonville Gymnastics - 2005 - 2006 Level Five Team
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Five Team Members shown here won the Fourth-Place Team Banner. Team members on first row, left to right, are: Stephanie Singleton, Lauren McKibben, Samantha Sobba, Kimmie Edwards, Jessica McDonough, Kaitlin Soderlund, and Terra Johnson. Second row gymnasts from left are Caitlyn Dillon, Tiffany Maxwell, Stephanie Scroggins, Carol Walters, Kelsy Founds, Marisa Grissom and Cami Wright. One of the more difficult feats required of a Level Five gymnast is a cartwheel on the beam.
Ninety-six Level Three gymnasts from eight teams competed in the Sunday afternoon session--the sixth and final session of the meet. Jacksonville competed fourteen gymnasts of the fifteen-member team and they won the Second-Place Team Banner with a team score of 115.1 and Elite 11 again won first. The all-around scores for the Level Three team ranged from 35 to over 38 - awesome scores for any level.
Jacksonville Gymnastics - 2005 - 2006 Level Three Team
These Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Three Team Members competed Sunday afternoon in the sixth and final session of the Sixth Annual Sweetheart Invitational Meet hosted by their team. The Level Three Team won the Second-Place Team Banner. Shown here, first row, left to right, are: Samantha Wade, Aspen Goldman, Rebecca Goldman, Sydney McGill, Tonie Butler, Allison Shaw and Jordan Rogers. Back row, left to right are Maggie Lee, Christina Hensley, Jessica Gardner, Hayley Paddock, Lauren Anderson, Kennedy Driskill and Anja’ Tech. Unable to attend meet was the fifteenth Team member, Nidhi Gandhi.
Door prizes were handed out to gymnasts from each team - the names chosen by drawing - and goodie bags were handed out to all gymnasts - the gymnasts enjoy the goodies after the meet almost as much as they enjoy receiving their awards.
T. J. Johnston, father of one of the Jacksonville Gymnasts (and perhaps better known as the Grinch) entertained the gymnasts and audience alike with his emceeing of the meet and leading the gymnasts in dances and songs while they waited for scoring to be completed.
The Jacksonville Gymnastics Parents Association ran a very successful concession stand for the entire three-day session serving such great treats as baked potatoes, chile, nachos, hot dogs, cookies, doughnuts, apples with caramel dip, candy bars, and hot and cold drinks. The meet could not have been as successful had it not been for the help from the parents association and many other parents who volunteered their time and muscle power.
One of the highlights of many large Arkansas meets is shopping with Ms. June, the well-known sales representative from GK Elite Sportswear. She had every type of gymnastics, dance and cheer apparel available for sale, much to the delight of all gymnasts.
Also at the meet was the Poster People Partner, Quality Action Photography. They are well known also for their skills in photographing action and still shots of the gymnasts and then making posters of their photos.
The Jacksonville Gymnastics team will next attend a meet at Flame Gymnastics in Fort Smith, and the weekend after will travel to Springdale for a meet at Durham’s Gymnastics.
More on the meet to follow later. 3:30 in the morning is all I can handle!!!!