JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS COMPETITIVE TEAM,
LEVELS FIVE THROUGH EIGHT,
AND PROUDLY BRING BACK THREE TEAM TROPHIES
Jacksonville Gymnastics USAG Junior Olympic Competitive Team, Levels Five, Six, Seven and Eight attended a meet Saturday in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The competition was held at the Phillips Center that houses the fitness center for the Conoco-Phillips employees and actually began on Friday with a Level Four competition and ended on Sunday with lower non-competing levels. This was the first time for Jacksonville Gymnastics to compete at Bartlesville and they competed against some very tough teams. However, the Jacksonville Gymnastics Team held it’s own – bringing home two Second-Place Team Trophies and a Third-Place Team Trophy. The Saturday competition was held in three sessions – the first for Level Five gymnasts, the second for Levels Six and Seven and the evening session for Levels Eight, Nine and Ten.
The Bartlesville team, Conoco-Phillips, hosted the meet in which about 235 gymnasts from 22 teams competed during the Saturday sessions. Teams were from Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas. The host team ran a very good meet but only three top teams were recognized for team awards for each level. Also, only about two-thirds of the gymnasts were recognized for individual placements for the events and even for all-around placements; then the other remaining gymnasts were called up to receive their awards. This was quite different to what Arkansas gymnasts, at least from this area, are accustomed.
The meet began on Saturday morning at 8:00 for 106 Level Five gymnasts from thirteen teams. Eight of the thirteen Jacksonville Level Five gymnasts competed in this session. The Jacksonville gymnasts competed very well, although it was not their best score of the season. They were about two points under their top scores and they were also two points below the third-place team. However, they were all on the stand for most of the four events. Usually at least two Jacksonville team gymnasts were on the stand for each of the team’s age representations so green showed up regularly. This was by far the toughest competition that the Level Five gymnasts had met and this was also by far the toughest competition of the day for the Jacksonville Team. The team members competing for the Level Five Team were Taylor Butler, Mackenzie Ellis, Bailea Jones, Kendra Lytch, Tiffany Maxwell, Stephanie Scroggins, Stephanie Singleton and Madison Winstead. Kendra placed third on floor with a score of 9.525 – just to tell you how tough the meet was.
Thirty-four Level Six gymnasts from nine teams, along with 45 Level Seven gymnasts from thirteen teams, competed at the noon session. Only four of the seven Jacksonville Level Six Team gymnasts competed and yet they still managed to win the Third-Place Team Trophy. The four competing gymnasts were Caitlyn Dillon, Kelsy Founds, Jessica McDonough and Tori Spears. Tori, age twelve, won First Place on Beam and Third-Place in the Individual All-Around.
Forty-five gymnasts, representing thirteen Level Seven Teams also competed in the noon session. The entire strong team of nine Jacksonville Level Seven gymnasts competed and won the Second-Place Team Trophy, losing to the very strong Conoco-Phillips team by 1.75 points. The Jacksonville Level Seven gymnasts, ages nine to fifteen, are Krista Carlisle, Haley Edgin, Alyson Ferren, Sissy Ghormley, Samantha Gray, Tori Hanley, April Pitts, Mackenzie Powers, and Missy Whittecar.
Haley Edgin, age nine, placed second on Vault with a 9.625 and second on floor with a 9.5 and received Second Place All-Around for her age bracket.
Tori Hanley, age twelve, received nearly 9.5 on each of the four events, for her first score of 38.025 (our highest team score of the meet) and placed Fourth in the All-Around – just a hint at the level of competition.
On Vault, ages thirteen and up, the awards stand was mostly green with Krista receiving Second Place with a 9.575; Sissy, with a 9.525 receiving Third; Missy with a 9.425 receiving fourth; and April, with a 9.375 receiving fifth. Missy received the Third-Place Individual All-Around Award.
Three of the four Jacksonville Level Eight gymnasts competed in the evening session along with 23 Level Eight gymnasts from nine teams. Sixteen Level Nine gymnasts from seven teams and 11 Level Ten gymnasts from three teams also competed in the evening session. The Jacksonville Level Eight gymnasts won the Second-Place Team Trophy, losing to the first-place team by only .75 of a point. The Jacksonville Level Eight team is a very young team and they each competed their difficult skills admirably. The three competing gymnasts are Courtney Ellis, age eleven; and Kayla Edgin and Taylor Rai Johnson, age thirteen.
It was fun for the gymnasts and parents alike to watch the Level Ten gymnasts from Oklahoma as they competed their very complicated skills and routines – some of the routines performed to almost perfection level.
The Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Three Team has completed its season and did so with a winning record. The Level Four gymnasts will attend their Fun Meet this Friday. The Level Four meet is considered a Fun meet rather than a State Meet and no team trophies are awarded. Individual event awards are decided on a percentage basis of the total gymnasts competing; however, all gymnasts receive the Individual All-Around Placement Awards. The Level Four Fun Meet and the Level Five State Meet, which is being held this Saturday, March 17, will be held at the Forrest City High School. The Arkansas State USAG committee hosts the Fun Meet and the Level Five State Meet is being hosted this year by Delta Gymnastics of West Memphis.
The Arkansas State Meet for Levels Six through Ten will be held the next Saturday, March 24th at the Arkansas Tech University Coliseum and will be hosted by Tena’s Gymnastics of Russellville. The home team always works hard but the gymnasts will be working extremely hard for the next week and the next two weeks, in an effort to perfect their skills before their respective State Meets.
The arena was all dark, and the music was playing and the slow clapping began to get faster and faster and the spotlight was darting from the door to the entrance path and the gymnasts then began to enter - (this was the host team that entered first - Level Five Session.) The teams were announced one at a time and came in with the spotlight on them only - it must have been exciting for them because it was exciting for those of us in the stands. As they announced the team, the name of the team and coaches was flashed on the big scoreboard across from the viewing stands - see below.
(My apologies - I'm sorry that I didn't get a close up view of either these - I'm not good at zoom because it usually distorts, so I just don't try.) This was really exciting for the gymnasts, although I'm sure they didn't see this part of their entrance.
The Level Five Team poses for us after their session at the Bartlesville Conoco-Phillips Meet. They posed outside of the Phillips Building that was built especially for the benefit of the Phillips employees and their fitness. It was a perfect place for the team to hold for their many meets. As you can see, our gymnasts had a great time competing and they came up with their own pose here. We all are so proud of all of our gymnasts, all levels, including the ones who did not make it to Bartlesville to compete. Front row, left to right are Bailea Jones, Mackenzie Ellis, and Kendra Lytch. Back row, left to right, are Stephanie Scroggins, Tiffany Maxwell, Madison Winstead, Stephanie Singleton and Taylor Butler. The Level Four and Five gymnasts compete this weekend at Fun and State meets!
Posing here are the Jacksonville Level Six gymnasts, Jessica McDonough, Tori Spears, Kelsy Founds and Caitlyn Dillon before the awards ceremony. At this point, they had competed but had no idea that they had won the Third-Place Team Trophy. Tori also won First Place on Beam with a 9.325 but she had no idea that she had won it at this tough, tough meet. She also placed Third-Place Individual All-Around. Only three of our gymnasts placed top three at this meet.
Again, this photo of the Jacksonville Level Seven Team was taken after competition and before awards and these happy gymnasts didn't even care. They had so much fun and had competed to their season-high score (although, I don't think they even knew this or had given it a thought.) They each compete for the love of the sport; although, of course, they also love to win!!!! They won the Second-Place Team Trophy!! Shown here, front row, left to right, are Samantha Gray, April Pitts, Alyson Ferren, Haley Edgin, Tori Hanley and Mackenzie Powers. Back row, left to right, are Krista Carlisle, Sissy Ghormley and Missy Whittecar. Haley won Second Place Individual All-Around and Missy placed Third-Place Individual All-Around.
The Level Eight gymnasts also won Second-Place Team Trophy. I cannot say enough how proud we are of all of our gymnasts, but these girls work so very hard and pull off these difficult skills that many gymnasts never attempt, let alone compete - and it takes as much mental as well as physical ability to accomplish these skills. Shown here are Courtney Ellis, Kayla Edgin and Taylor Rai Johnson. In two weeks, Levels Six, Seven and Eight go to State Meet!
Good luck Jacksonville Gymnasts at your State Meets!!