PRESS RELEASE 
February 27, 2005
JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS TEAM
ATTENDS THREE-DAY MEET IN FT SMITH
AND
BRINGS HOME FIVE TROPHIES
Jacksonville Gymnastics USAG Junior Olympic Competitive Team attended the
Special Olympics Benefit Meet held at Flame Gymnastics in Ft. Smith this past
weekend. The meet was held in seven sessions and was attended by over 400
gymnasts from sixteen teams from Arkansas and one team from Missouri.
This meet, which began mid-day Friday and ended Sunday evening, is hosted yearly by Flame Gymnastics to aid Special Olympics. In a women's competitive meet, all gymnasts compete on four events: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. For this meet, team scores were determined (as they will be for the state meets for the Levels Four and Five Teams) by totaling the scores of the top five team gymnasts on each event.
The
scores for the four events are then totaled for the team score. The five top
scores are taken for the Levels Four and Five teams since there are so many
gymnasts competing in these two levels. The top three scores only are taken for
team awards from Levels Six, Seven, Eight and Nine. Besides the team scores,
the individual all-around honors for each gymnast are determined by totaling the
scores of the four events. It is possible for a gymnast to win second place or
even lower on each of the four individual events but still win first place
all-around, if her point-score is the highest.
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Five Team competed Friday evening and they won the
first-place team trophy. The eleven Level Five gymnasts who competed were:
Cassidy Eberle, Haley Edgin, Samantha Gray, Marisa Grissom, Micale Kocke,
Tiffany Maxwell, April Pitts, Mackenzie Powers, Kaitlin Soderlund, Tori Spears
and Erica West. Winning top individual all-round honors for their age bracket
were the following gymnasts: age seven, Erica West, first-place and Haley
Edgin, second place. Eight-year-old Mackenzie Powers won second place and
nine-year-old Kaitlin Soderlund won second place. Eleven-year-old April Pitts
also won second-place all-around individual honors.
Seven gymnasts of the ten-member Level Six Team competed Saturday afternoon and
won the fourth-place team trophy. The competing gymnasts were Morgan Bussard,
Kierra Daniel, Courtney Ellis, Madison Ellis, Rene'e LaFort, Brooke Nevins and
Bria Wiggins. Winning second-place individual all-around honors for their age
bracket were nine-year-old Courtney Ellis and thirteen-year-old Brooke Nevins.
Three of the Jacksonville Level Eight gymnasts competed Saturday night and won
the fourth-place team trophy. Competing were eleven-year-old Emily West,
thirteen-year-old Sarah McAlister and sixteen-year-old Meaghan Townsend. Sarah
McAlister won first-place individual all-around honors for her age bracket.
The Level Seven Team competed early Sunday morning and won the third-place team
trophy. The competing gymnasts were: Nine- year-old Hannah Womack, the
youngest Level Seven gymnast in the meet, and eleven to fourteen-year old
gymnasts: Bonnie Brown, Kayla Edgin, Sissy Ghormley, Taylor Rai Johnson, Kelsey
Lerner, Shannon Mavity, Missy Whittecar, and Stephanie York.
Winning top
individual all-around honors were: Hannah Womack, first place for age
nine;
eleven-year-old Kayla Edgin, second place and fourteen- year-old Bonnie Brown,
first place.
Eighteen members of the Level Four Team competed Sunday afternoon and won the
first-place team trophy. The Level Four team members, who range in age from six
to twelve, have competed in seven meets this year and have won seven first-place
team trophies. Listed alphabetically are the Level Four team members who
competed: Morgan Colvert, Caitlyn Dillon, Christy Dodds, Mackenzie Ellis, Kelsy
Founds, Bethany Gunnell, Sydney Hickerson, Amanda Hicks, Bailea Jones, Kendra
Lytch, Kathryn Mavity, Lauren McKibben, Samantha Sobba, Madi Spears, Meagan
Trotter, Madison Winstead, Sarah Jane Womack and Cami Wright.
Winning top individual all-around honors for the Level Four team were: age six,
Mackenzie Ellis, second place; age eight, Samantha Sobba, first place and Sydney
Hickerson, second place; age eleven, Caitlyn Dillon, second place; and age
twelve, Meagan Trotter, first place.
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Five gymnasts will attend the Level Five State
Meet next Saturday, March 5, at Harding University in Searcy.
Level Four gymnasts will attend their culminating meet--known as the Level Four
Fun Meet--in Fayetteville, Friday, March 18th. Team awards are not given for
Level Four teams at this meet; however, the gymnasts in each age bracket will
compete for state titles on the individual events and for the state title of
all-around-gymnast for her age bracket.
Level Six, Seven, Eight and Nine gymnasts will also attend their State Meet in
Fayetteville on Saturday, March 19th.
After the state meets are held, the Jacksonville Gymnastics team members will
continue to work same and next-level skills. Every eight years, the United
States Association of Gymnastics (USAG) introduces new routines and possibly new
skills for each event on each level. The Jacksonville coaches will attend a
three-day seminar to be held in Louisville, Kentucky to learn the new routines
and skills expected for each of the events. New gymnasts will join the Level
Four team and all the gymnasts, at each level, will then work all summer on the
new routines to compete in the fall. The gymnasts will work doubly hard this
summer, because not only will they be working on the higher-level skills, they
will also be learning entirely new routines and floor-work music for their
level. Optional gymnasts--Level Seven and above--will, of course, be
learning
new routines on each event for the new season as they do every season, but new
skills will likely be more difficult and challenging. After working all
summer,
it will be determined at what level each gymnast will compete in the new
season.
The Jacksonville Gymnastics Men's Competitive Team will finish up their
successful first competitive year Saturday, March 5, at their State Meet to be
held at Champions Gymnastics in Jonesboro.
The competitions and fun may soon be over for the Huff 'n Puff-based
Jacksonville Gymnastics USAG Junior Olympic Competitive Teams but the challenges
and rewards of the new season are just ahead. Any one interested in learning
more about the sport of gymnastics may call 985-1818 for information. Gymnasts
may not compete until the age of six and the Jacksonville team has three
six-year-old competing gymnasts. Gymnastics is great for the coordination,
strengthening and flexibility of any age child, and youngsters can begin
gymnastics as early as the age of eighteen months to two years.
JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS LEVEL FOUR TEAM WINS
FIRST-PLACE TEAM TROPHY
AT
SPECIAL OLYMPICS BENEFIT MEET
SEVENTH MEET - SEVENTH FIRST-PLACE TEAM TROPHY-
SEASON RECORD
The Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four Team Members, ages six to twelve years,
made history for their gym by winning their seventh first-place team trophy in
their seven meets of the season this year. These first-place team trophies are
in addition to the six first-place team trophies won by last year's Level Four
Team. The happy gymnasts, from left to right, front row are: Kathryn Mavity,
Samantha Sobba, Sydney Hickerson, Bailea Jones, Madison Winstead, Mackenzie
Ellis, Sarah Jane Womack, and Madi Spears. In the second row, from left to
right are: Cami
Wright, Caitlyn Dillon, Christy Dodds, Kelsy Founds, Lauren McKibben, Meagan
Trotter, Morgan Colvert,
Amanda Hicks, Bethany Gunnell and Kendra Lytch.
JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS LEVEL FIVE TEAM MEMBERS CELEBRATE
FIRST-PLACE WIN AT SPECIAL OLYMPICS MEET AT FT SMITH
Level Five gymnasts are shown here after just winning the First-Place Team
Trophy at Special Olympics Meet held in Ft Smith. Over 400 gymnasts, Levels
Four through Nine attended this three-day meet. These Level Five gymnasts who
proudly represent Jacksonville Gymnastics are from Cabot, Sherwood, North Little
Rock, Maumelle, Alexander, Little Rock Air Force Base and Jacksonville. The
gymnasts, from left to right, are: Tori Spears, Tiffany Maxwell, Kaitlin
Soderlund, Erica West, Micale Kocke, Haley Edgin, Mackenzie Powers, Samantha
Gray, Marisa Grissom, April Pitts and Cassidy Eberle.
JACKSONVILLE LEVEL SIX TEAM MEMBERS WIN
FOURTH-PLACE TEAM TROPHY
Seven of the ten-member Level Six team gymnasts competed Saturday afternoon
against twelve of Arkansas strongest Level Six teams and won the fourth-place
team trophy. The Level Six Team Members are from Jacksonville, Sherwood, North
Little Rock and Little Rock. Shown here are gymnasts, from left to right are:
Brooke Nevins, Rene'e LaFort, Madison Ellis, Morgan Bussard, Kierra Daniel,
Bria Wiggins, and Courtney Ellis. The other Level Six team members who were
unable to compete in this meet and not shown were Reagan Bennett, Elise Guthrie
and Audrey Nettles.
JACKSONVILLE LEVEL SEVEN TEAM WINS
THIRD-PLACE TEAM TROPHY
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Seven gymnasts pose proudly with their Third-Place
Team Trophy. Level Seven gymnasts compete optional routines to their
individual music and to
routines that are personally choreographed for them by their coaches. The
Jacksonville gymnasts and parents truly enjoyed their morning session at Flame
Gymnastics as they were joined in the
competition by former team member Kelsey Lerner. Adding to the enjoyment of
all, each of the Jacksonville gymnasts scored a 9.0 and higher on their floor
routines, with one of the team members even earning a 9.6 on her floor routine.
Competing Level Seven gymnasts, from left to right, front row are: Kayla Edgin,
Hannah Womack and Taylor Rai Johnson. Shown on second row are: Sissy Ghormley,
Shannon Mavity, Missy Whittecar, Stephanie York, Kelsey Lerner and Bonnie Brown.
LEVEL EIGHT GYMNASTS HAPPILY DISPLAY
THEIR FOURTH-PLACE TEAM TROPHY.
From left to right are: Meaghan Townsend, Emily West and Sarah McAlister. The
fourth team member, Jessica Wilde, was unable to compete as she was competing in
the state-level swim meet. The three gymnasts had just completed their goal for
the evening competing their best while still having fun the goal for
which Jacksonville Gymnastics Team members strive. The Level Eight Team won the
Fourth-Place Team Trophy.