THE FIFTH ANNUAL SWEETHEART INVITATIONAL
Jacksonville Gymnastics hosted its Fifth Annual Sweetheart Invitational USAG Junior Olympic Competitive Gymnastics Meet for Levels Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine. Attending this meet were over 300 gymnasts from twenty Arkansas teams. It is estimated that almost 2000 people attended the three-day, six-session meet held at Huff ‘n Puff. Three different sessions were held for Level Four teams--Friday night, Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. Level Five gymnasts competed in two different sessions – one session was held Saturday night; the other session was held Sunday morning in conjunction with the Level Eight and Level Nine session. The Level Six and Seven gymnasts competed Saturday afternoon.
Teams attending were from all over the state of Arkansas. Those teams were: Air Bound, AGTC, Cabot, Champions of Jonesboro, Champions of Paragould, Delta, Dorsey’s, Flip Flop, Gym Classics, Hot Springs, Lee, North Little Rock, One on One, Sonshine, Stars and Stripes, Tena’s, TumbleRoom, Westside Y, X-Treme and Jacksonville Gymnastics.
Winning teams for the Level Four Sessions were: Friday Night - AGTC, Tena’s and Delta; Saturday morning - Dorsey’s, Stars and Stripes and Flip Flop; and Sunday afternoon - Jacksonville Gymnastics, Champions of Paragould, Hot Springs and Gym Classics.
Winning teams of the Saturday night Level Five Session were: Stars and Stripes, Dorsey’s, Jacksonville Gymnastics (Third-Place Team Trophy) and Sonshine.
Winning teams of the Sunday morning Level Five session were: Cabot Gymnastics, X-Treme, Champions of Paragould and One on One.
Winning teams of the Saturday afternoon Level Six Session were: Jacksonville Gymnastics, AGTC, Hot Springs, and Stars and Stripes.
Winning teams of the Saturday afternoon Level Seven Session were: Jacksonville Gymnastics, Air Bound, Flip Flop and Champions of Paragould.
Winning teams of the Sunday morning Level Eight Teams were Hot Springs and Jacksonville Gymnastics. Level Nine individual all-around honors went to Hot Springs gymnasts but no team trophy was awarded as it takes three competing gymnasts for a team to qualify for team awards.
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four Gymnasts won their session with a
high-score of the meet with a 112.300. Competing gymnasts, from age six to
twelve, alphabetically were: Elise Bamburg, Morgan Colvert, Caitlyn Dillon,
Christy Dodds, Mackenzie Ellis, Kelsy Founds, Bethany Gunnell, Sydney Hickerson,
Amanda Hicks, Bailea Jones, Michelle LaFort, Kendra Lytch, Shelby Matney,
Kathryn Mavity, Lauren McKibben, Samantha Sobba, Madi Spears, Meagan Trotter,
Priscilla Webb, Madison Winstead, Sarah Jane Womack and Cami Wright. This was
the first meet for Shelby Matney, age ten, and Madi Spears, age six. In
addition to the gymnasts winning the first-place team trophy, the following
gymnasts also won top individual all-around honors:
age six, Mackenzie Ellis, first place; age seven, Kendra Lytch, first place and
Sarah Jane Womack, second place; age eight, Sydney Hickerson, second place; age
nine, Cami Wright, first place; age ten, Kelsy Founds, first place; age eleven,
Caitlyn Dillon, first place and Madison Winstead, second place; and age twelve,
Meagan Trotter, first place with a 37.8 out of 40 points. The team won first or
second place in every age bracket entered, from age six to twelve.
The eleven Jacksonville Level Five gymnasts won the third-place team trophy. Competing Level Five gymnasts 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 individual all-around honors for their age bracket were: age seven, Erica West, first place and Haley Edgin, second place; and age eight, Mackenzie Powers, first place.
Competing against nine other teams, were eight of the ten-member Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Six Team. The Jacksonville Level Six gymnasts who won the first-place team trophy were: Reagan Bennett, Morgan Bussard, Kierra Daniel, Courtney Ellis, Rene’e LaFort, Audrey Nettles, Brooke Nevins and Bria Wiggins. Top all-around honors went to the following Jacksonville team gymnasts: age nine, Reagan Bennett, first place and Courtney Ellis, second place; age eleven, Kierra Daniel, first place and Morgan Bussard, second place; age thirteen, Audrey Nettles, first place and Brooke Nevins, second place.
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Seven Team also won the First-place Team Trophy. Competing for the Level Seven team were the following gymnasts: Bonnie Brown, Kayla Edgin, Sissy Ghormley, Taylor Rai Johnson, Shannon Mavity, Missy Whittecar, Hannah Womack and Stephanie York. Winning top individual all-around honors were: age nine, Hannah Womack, second place; age eleven, Kayla Edgin, first place and Taylor Rai Johnson, second place; age twelve, Sissy Ghormley, second place; age thirteen, Stephanie York, second place; and age fourteen, Bonnie Brown, second place.
The four Level Eight Gymnasts from Jacksonville Gymnastics won the second-place team trophy. Eleven-year old Emily West won second-place individual all-around honors for her age bracket.
In two weeks, the Jacksonville Team will attend the large Special Olympics Benefit Meet in Ft Smith, hosted by Flame Gymnastics. The Level Five teams in Arkansas will meet for their State Meet March 5, in Searcy. The Level Fours will compete in their State Fun Meet in Fayetteville the same weekend, March 18-19-20, that the State Level Six, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten Teams meet there for their State Competitions.
The JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS LEVEL FOUR TEAM WINS ITS SIXTH FIRST-PLACE TROPHY OF THE SEASON at the Fifth Annual Sweetheart Invitational Meet hosted by its team at Huff ‘n Puff. Over 300 gymnasts from 20 teams from Arkansas attended the meet. Jacksonville Level Four gymnasts excitedly displaying their winning trophy, from left to right lower rows are: Cami Wright, Lauren McKibben, Sydney Hickerson, Bailea Jones, Kendra Lytch, Mackenzie Ellis, Samantha Sobba, Elise Bamburg, Morgan Colvert, Kathryn Mavity, Kelsy Founds and Madi Spears. Top row, from left to right are: Amanda Hicks, Priscilla Webb, Meagan Trotter, Christy Dodds, Sarah Jane Womack, Michelle LaFort, Bethany Gunnell and Caitlyn Dillon.
JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS LEVEL FIVE TEAM WINS THIRD-PLACE TROPHY. Competing gymnasts from left to right are: Marisa Grissom, April Pitts, Haley Edgin, Tori Spears, Erica West, Tiffany Maxwell, Kaitlin Soderlund, Cassidy Eberle, Micale Kocke, Samantha Gray and Mackenzie Powers.
JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS LEVEL SIX TEAM WINS FIRST-PLACE TEAM TROPHY. This is the fifth first-place trophy that the team has won this season. The have also won two second-place team trophies and those were each close losses to out-of-state teams. The competing gymnasts, shown here at the Sweetheart Invitational are: Audrey Nettles, Rene’e LaFort, Brooke Nevins, Bria Wiggins, Reagan Bennett, Morgan Bussard, Kierra Daniel and Courtney Ellis.
JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS LEVEL SEVEN TEAM happily displays FIRST-PLACE TEAM TROPHY won at Sweetheart Invitational. Competing gymnasts shown here from left to right are: Bonnie Brown, Stephanie York, Shannon Mavity, Kayla Edgin, Taylor Rai Johnson, Missy Whittecar, Hannah Womack and Sissy Ghormley. The gymnasts are from Beebe, Cabot, Jacksonville, Sherwood, North Little Rock, Little Rock and Bryant-Benton area.
JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS LEVEL EIGHT GYMNASTS are shown here with the SECOND-PLACE TEAM TROPHY that they won Sunday morning at the Sweetheart Invitational held at their home gym. From left to right are Jessica Wilde, Meaghan Townsend, Sarah McAlister and Emily West.