JACKSONVILLE GYMNASTICS TEAM COMPETES IN RIVER CITY CLASSIC
Jacksonville Gymnastics Team, Levels Four – Nine, attended the River City Classic Competition in Little Rock this weekend. The competition, attended by 300 gymnasts from fifteen Arkansas teams, was held in four sessions beginning Friday evening and ending Saturday evening with a lively session of Optional gymnasts.
Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four team members competed in their last seasonal competition until they meet March 15th for the State Fun Meet that will be held at Flame Gymnastics in Fort Smith. Nineteen of the twenty-three Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Four gymnasts compete and proudly brought home the Second-Place team trophy. Three Level Three gymnasts had been moved up since the Sweetheart Meet and they competed at Level Four for the first time. Those three gymnasts were seven year-old Mollie Johnson, nine-year-old Lauren Osburn and ten-year-old Keelee Curbo. The three gymnasts made their parents, coaches and team members proud.
The Level Four Team gymnasts competed in the Friday night session along with a total of over ninety gymnasts. In addition to winning the Second-place team trophy, the following gymnasts brought home top individual All-Around Honors for their age divisions.
Allison Ramsey age seven Second Place
Abby Houghtaling age eight, Flight B First Place
Sarah Beavers age eight, Flight B Second Place
Sarah Seibel age eight, Flight B Third Place
Sydney McGill age eight, Flight A First Place
Skylar Spaeth age nine, Flight A Third Place
Briyana Isaac age ten, Flight A Third Place
Level Four Gymnasts - Several of these gymnasts had their best meet of the season. From left to right on the front row are Sydney McClung, Abby Houghtaling, Natalie Donley, Allison Ramsey, Miranda Chambers and Sierra Rohauer. Second row, left to right are Sarah Seibel, Skylar Spaeth, Jadyn Perkins, Sara Heil, Briyana Isaacs, Sydney McGill, Lauren Osburn, Sarah Beavers, Mollie Johnson, Lakyn Powers and Maggie Lee. Third row is Jessica Gardner. Competing but not shown is Keelee Curbo.
Another session of 37 Level Four gymnasts competed in the noon time session with the Level Six gymnasts.
Eighty-four Level Five gymnasts attended the Saturday morning 8:00 session, including thirteen of the fifteen-members of the Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Five Team. Katy Gorden was unable to compete due to illness but she back in the gym anyway, so hopefully she will be back full strength by State Meet.
The Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Five Team won the First-Place Team Trophy. Some of you may think that we know who has won the Team Placements by the time the competition is over, but we may know our scores, but we don’t have any idea the scores of the other teams, so it is just as much a surprise to us as to you when they announce the awards. The scores are often just tenths apart. We’re just thankful when we have the top scores. In addition to the team award, the following gymnasts won the top individual all-around honors.
Lynzie VanBrocklin age nine, Flight A Third Place
Bailea Jones age ten, Flight A First Place
Rachel Flippen age ten, Flight A Third Place
Halle Maddox age ten, Flight B First Place
Katelin McLain age eleven First Place
Kennedy Driskill age twelve Second Place
Level Five gymnasts won the First-Place Team Trophy. Front row, from left to right are Lynzie VanBrocklin, Halle Maddox, Bailea Jones, Anna Faith Camp and Alex Taylor. Second row, from left to right are Sabrina Barger, Kennedy Driskill, Madi Spears, Rachel Flippen, Kathryn Taylor, Katelin McLain, Amanda Hicks and Jordan Rogers.
In the noontime session, 37 Level Four gymnasts competed at the same time as 30 Level Six gymnasts, including six of the seven members of the Jacksonville Level Six Team. (Jessica McDonough could not compete due to illness). Jacksonville gymnasts won the First-Place Team Trophy. The Level Six Team has been undefeated this year but we have been afraid to say it and we say it now, only to inform our readers – not to gloat. We have still not met all the teams in the state and no one knows what the capabilities of the other teams are. In addition to winning the First-Place Team Trophy, the following gymnasts won top individual All-Around honors.
Mackenzie Ellis age eight-nine First Place
Tonie Butler age eight-nine Third Place
Kendra Lytch age ten First Place
Stephanie Singleton age thirteen and up First Place
Carol Walters age thirteen and up Third Place
Level Six Gymnasts - First Place!!! Front row are Stephanie Singleton and Kendra Lytch. Second row, left to right are Tiffany Maxwell, Tonie Butler, Mackenzie Ellis and Carol Walters. Jessica McDonough was unable to compete with her team due to illness.
Optional gymnasts competed in the evening session. The sixty-one gymnasts were thirty-three Level Seven gymnasts, twenty Level Eight gymnasts, seven Level Nine gymnasts and one Level Ten gymnast. Of these, Jacksonville Gymnastics competed seven of its eight Level Seven gymnasts (Mackenzie Powers is out with a foot injury); and five of its six Level Eight gymnasts, as well as its Level Nine gymnast.
The Jacksonville Level Seven Team won the Fourth-Place Team Trophy. The following gymnasts won top all-around individual honors:
Taylor Butler age ten Third Place
Samantha Sobba age eleven Second Place
Samantha Gray age twelve Third Place
Level Seven Gymnasts won the Fourth Place Team Trophy. Left to right are Kimmie Edwards, Taylor Butler, Samantha Sobba, Kelsy Founds, Tori Spears, Alyson Ferren and Samantha Gray. Maczenzie Powers was unable to compete due to injury.
The Level Eight gymnasts competed very hard, too, and won the Third-Place Team Trophy, losing second by less than half a point. The following individual all-around honors were awarded.
Courtney Ellis age twelve Second Place
Taylor Rai Johnson age fourteen Second Place
Sarah McAlister age sixteen First Place
Level Eight wins the Third-Place Team Trophy. Shown holding the trophy, left to right are Courtney Ellis and Tori Hanley. Back row are Sarah McAlister, Taylor Rai Johnson and Sissy Ghormley. Not shown here is Haley Edgin who is back on the competition floor now reconditioning and hoping to be back 100% soon.
Kayla Edgin, Jacksonville Gymnastics Level Nine gymnast won the Second-Place Individual All-Around honor. Kayla tied for first on two events, but ties are broken by highest all-around, so even though she tied for first, she took second. She had a tremendous meet though and we’re so proud of Kayla’s accomplishments and her good sportsmanship.
This meet was tough enough, but the optional gymnasts will really meet their toughest competition when the Level Seven – Eight and Nine gymnasts travel to Texas to compete. The State Meet will be the end of March at Pine Bluff Convention Center. That meet will be for Levels Five through Ten.