CONTINUED from INTRODUCTION
At Arkansas State Meets, all of the gymnasts from the Level Four State Teams compete during the day, but three different sessions are held for the different ages of the competing gymnasts. At the Fun Meet, because of the large number of competing gymnasts of the same age, each age group may be further divided into flights, also determined by age; thus, gymnasts are competing against gymnasts of nearly the same age.
The State Meet for Level Four Gymnasts is called a “Fun Meet” not a State Championship Meet as in other states. The individual gymnasts win honors for each event and all-around honors are awarded, but no team championship is awarded. There were 224 Level Four gymnasts who competed during the day Friday.
Several of the Jacksonville Gymnasts were unable to attend due to state testing at their school. The Jacksonville Gymnastics Team coaching staff members are Head Coach Laurel Spears, Assistant Head Coach Erin Wunderl, Stacy Howerton, Lois Bryan and Christy Ellis. All the coaches have a hand in the coaching of the Level Four gymnasts; however, Ms. Stacy and Ms. Christy are the primary coaches for the successful Level Four Team.
The following Arkansas Teams participated in the “Fun Meet”:
Aspire Bentonville
Cabot Gymnastics Cabot
Champions Jonesboro
Champions Paragould
Delta Gymnastics West Memphis
Dorsey’s Sheridan
Durham’s Gymnastics Springdale
Flame Gymnastics Academy Fort Smith
Flip – Flop Gymnastics Pine Bluff
Great Expectations Camden
Gymnastics Plus Arkadelphia
Gym Stars Searcy
Gym Twisters Russellville
Hot Springs Gymnastics Hot Springs
Jacksonville Gymnastics Jacksonville
Mega Gymnastics North Little Rock
North Little Rock Superstars North Little Rock
River City Gymnastics Little Rock
SAGA Hope
Sonshine Academy Conway
Stars Gymnastics Arkadelphia
Stars and Stripes Batesville
Tena’s Russellville
Westside YMCA Gymnastics Little Rock
Williams Center Fayetteville
Team competing sessions began at 9:00 Friday morning and ended that night at 9:00 for coaches and some of the rest of us.
Jacksonville Gymnasts who won Individual All-Around Championship Awards for their age bracket and flight were: Tonie Butler, Madi Spears, Rachel Flippen, and Sabrina Barger. They competed only against gymnasts of their own age and not against each other. Their scores follow:
Vault Bars Beam Floor All-Around Score
Tonie, age seven 9.750 9.5 9.40 9.50 38.15
Madi, age eight 9.800 9.05 9.00 9.30 37.15
Rachel, age nine 9.750 9.40 9.3 9.45 37.90
Sabrina, age ten 9.750 9.450 9.150 9.25 37.60
Tonie and Rachel each received first in each of their events for their all-around score, but Sabrina received second on each event and because of her high scores on each event, received the all-around win. Madi placed a first, two seconds and a third and still received the highest all-around score. It is often the same way with team scores – their gymnasts may not win the top places in the events but they win the meet because of their high total score – that’s one of the things that makes gymnastics so interesting. Hard work and effort do bring rewards.
Seventy-seven gymnasts, ages six, seven and ten-years-old competed in the first session at 9:00 a.m. Of these gymnasts, five were age six, 27 were age seven and 45 were age ten. Jacksonville Level Four team members competing in this session were seven-year-old Tonie Butler and Jordan Rogers, and ten-year-olds Sabrina Barger and Jessica Gardner.
Jordan placed second on floor with a 9.45 and earned an all-around score of 36.45 and received fifth-place all-around. Jessica placed 15th in her age bracket.
Seventy-five gymnasts, ages eight, twelve and thirteen and up, competed in the mid-day session. Of these gymnasts, 58 were eight years old, eight were age twelve and nine were thirteen and above. Jacksonville gymnasts competing in this session were eight-year olds Kayla McGee, Jadyn Perkins, Sierra Rohauer, Madi Spears, Katherine Taylor, Katie Trujillo and Lynzie VanBrocklin. Nidhi Gandi, age twelve, could not compete due to school conflict.
Sierra and Kayla only moved to Level Four at our Sweetheart Meet in mid-February and
competed for the first time at that meet. A few of our gymnasts were in the same flight and some were in others.
Jadyn received fourteenth; Sierra received twelfth, and Kayla received sixth. Lynzie received second on vault with 9.65; second on bars with a 9.45; second on beam with an 8.6 and first on floor with a 9.4, and received second place all-around with a 37.1. Katie was in another flight. received second on floor with a 9.45 and received fifth all-around. Katherine and Madi were in the same flight and Katherine received second on bars and she and Madi tied on floor for second. Katherine received fifth in the all-around.
Competing in the third and final session of the day were 72 age nine and eleven-years olds. Of these 72 gymnasts, 48 were age nine and 24 were age eleven.
Our nine-year-old competitors were Rachel Flippen, Katy Gorden, Alex Taylor, and Hannah Taylor. Our eleven-year-old gymnasts were Lauren Anderson and Kaylen Perkins. Katy only began competing Level Four at the end of January at the Batesville Meet.
Hannah received first on the floor with a 9.45 and received eighth overall. Alex received fourth overall, Katy received third overall. They were in the same flight. Rachel was in another flight and received first on each event and won the first over-all with a 37.9.
Lauren and Kaylen competed in the eleven-year-old division. Lauren won ninth overall and Kaylen received seventh all-around.
It really was a fun and exciting season for all of the Level Four Gymnasts and the “Fun Meet” was the culmination of a wonderful competitive year. The gymnasts will, of course, continue working on their skills and new skills that are being presented to them now. Our congratulations to all of our Level Four Gymnasts for a FANTASTIC year and to our GREAT coaching staff, and thanks to all of our wonderful parents who have supported the team and us during this year.
2006 - 2007 Jacksonville Gymnastics USAG Level Four Competitive Team
2006 - 2007 Level Four Team Members - Age Seven
Tonie Butler, Age Seven - State Champion
Jordan Rogers, Age Seven - Level Four
Jordan
Sydney McGill, Age Seven - Level Four
2006 - 2007 Level Four Team Members - Age Eight
Kayla McGee, Age Eight - Level Four
Jadyn Perkins, Age Eight - Level Four
Sierra Rohauer, Age Eight, Level Four
Allie Shaw, Eight Eight - Level Four
Madi Spears, Age Eight, Level Four State Champion
Katherine Taylor, Age Eight, Level Four
Katie Trujillo, Age Eight, Level Four
Lynzie VanBrocklin, Age Eight - Level Four - Second Place State Champion
2006 - 2007 Level Four Team Members - Age Nine
Rachel Flippen, Age Eight, Level Four State Champion
Katy Gorden, Age Nine, Level Four
Maggie Lee, Age Nine, Level Four
Alex Taylor, Age Nine, Level Four
Hannah Taylor, Age Nine, Level Four
Anja Tech, Age Nine, Level Four
Sabrina Barger, Age Ten, Level Four State Champion
Jessica Gardner, Age Ten, Level Four
Savannah Wade, Age Ten, Level Four - Photo Later
Lauren Anderson, Age Eleven, Level Four
Kennedy Driskill, Age Eleven, Level Four - Photo Later
Kaylen Perkins, Age Eleven - Level Four
Nidhi Gandi, Age Twelve - Level Four - photo later
Most of these photos were taken after competition at Level Four "Fun Meet" held at
Forrest City High School Arena, March 16, 2007.