2018 JO Nationals Recap (Day 2)

May 14, 2018

Well thats a wrap!!

Another JO National Championships has come and gone. There were 12 National Team Champions Crowned, 12 Individual All-Around Champions & 48 Individual Event Champions. Region 5 took the top spot in 5 age groups, captured 4 All-Around Titles & 15 Individual Event Champions. I would say it was a pretty successful showing by the Region 5 Dream Teams.

JO Nationals Day 1 Recap

Junior D

Full Results

The Junior D’s started us off this morning with a HUGE WIN! They not only captured the National Team spot but also WON every event as a team! What an outstanding accomplishment for these young women. Ella Cesario (Legacy Elite) was our highest placing All Around gymnast in this age group placing second with a 38.35. She also captured a silver medal on Vault with a HOT 9.7 and a Bronze medal on Floor with a 9.6. Cesario finished off her top placing with a 9.575 on bars securing a 7th place finish. Tory Vetter (Universal) was our next highest All Around finisher with a 38.025, placing 6th. Vetter had two other Top 10 finishes on Balance Beam (9.55) placing 7th and Floor (9.525) placing 8th. Katya Sander (Perfection) walked away with a Bronze medal on Bars with a 9.6. Skyla Schulte (Phenom), who was in the hunt for a top spot in the all around until a fall on bars, had a beautiful Floor routine which gave her a Bronze medal with a 9.6. Madison Snook (Legacy Elite) fought her way into the Top 10 with a 9.5 on Bars. Jacey Vore (Jaycie Phelps) vaulted her way to a 9th place finish on Vault with a 9,6. Elaina McGovern (Legacy-KY) HIT a Balance Beam routine scoring a 9.5 placing 10th.

Senior D

Full Results
Makarri Doggette Interview

The Senior D’s ROCKED as well earning a FIRST PLACE National team standing. These AWESOME young women also WON Bars and Floor while placing second on Vault & Beam as a team. Beyond a STANDOUT performance from Makarri Doggette (Buckeye) WINNING ALL events (Vault-9.85, Bars-9.75, Beam-9.625, Floor-9.7), including the All Around (38.925).Kai Rivers (Twistars) also had an outstanding meet rewarding her with a Bronze medal in the All Around (38.425). Rivers also was awarded Bronze medals on Bars (9.725) and Floor (9.6) and a fourth place finish on Vault with a HOT 9.8. Placing fourth in the All Around with a 38.325 is Payton Richards (Aerial). Richards also placed fourth on Bars (9.675), ninth on Beam (9.475, and captured the Bronze medal on Floor with a 9.6. Leah Clapper (Gym America) flipped her way into the Top 10 All Around by placing 9th with a 38.15. Leah was the lone graduating senior in the age group which made it even more special that she was able to closed out the session competing last on one of her favorite events, the Floor, where she went onto place 8th with a 9.55. Leah will be heading to the Gators in the Fall. Taking the Silver medal on Floor was Rachel DeCavitch (Gym World). Also capturing a Silver medal was Lauren Beckwith (Buckeye) on Beam with a 9.6. Tumbling her way to the Top 10 was Jori Jackard (Twistars) with a 9.525 on Floor. Natalie Hamp (Twistars) was the alternate of this talented group of young ladies, not only did she stand by and cheer on her teammates, but she helped us out a little bit and filmed some of the routines during the competition. Thank you Natalie for contributing to the Insider.

Junior E

Full Results

The young women of the Junior E Team captured a big WIN for Region 5! They almost had a clean sweep winning Vault, Beam, and Floor. Leading our All Around standings in this age group was Makenzie Sedlacek (IGI) with a second place finish with a 38.175. Sedlacek also won a Silver medal on Vault with a HOT 9.75 and seventh place finish on Floor with a 9.525. Haley Tyson (Phenom) is a National Champion on Floor with a 9.6. Tyson also captured a fourth place All Around finish with a 38.15 and a ninth place finish on Vault with a 9.6. Region 5 has another National Champion with Erika Penamante (Legacy Elite) on Beam with a 9.625. Penamante also took home a seventh place finish in the All Around with a 37.90 and tenth place finish on Bars with a 9.5. Amelia Knotts (GTC Rochester) broke her way into the Top 10 on Vault placing 9th with a 9.6. Ella Chemotti (Euro Stars) also broke her way into the Top 10 on Beam with a 9.55 placing 5th. Kaitlyn Grimes (BIG) placed forth place on Floor with a 9.575. Riley Milbrandt (Legacy Elite) who was competing for Region 2 placed eighth on Bars with a 9.55. Gabrielle Stephen (Midwest Elite) & Naomi German (GTC) also competed in the session representing Region 6 & 2 respectively.

Senior E

Full Results

Senior E’s had a tough round of competition placing them sixth as a team. Their highest placing on an event was Floor with a strong fourth place finish as a team. Sarah Hargrove (CGA) was our highest All Around finisher with a 38.15 capturing 7th place. Hargrove also captured herself a Bronze medal on Bars with a 9.65. A funny occurrence happened during Sarah’s beam routine. There was an athlete in the Junior gym, representing Region 1, who mounted the balance beam at the same exact time Sarah did with the same exact mount! If anyone has seen Sarah’s back dive beam mount, you know it is unique, so to have two athletes perform it is rare, but to have them perform it at the exact same time is even more rare! Anna Kaziska (Champion-KY) brought home two individual medals in her final competition tumbling her way to a 2nd place finish on the beam (9.625) and a 10th place finish on the floor (9.575).

Junior F

Full Results

Junior F’s looked strong on Bars placing them second as a team, however, it wasn’t enough to break them into an All Around win as they ended the competition placing fourth. Our highest All Around gymnast was Cassandra Barbanente (Palmer’s) with a 38.15 placing fourth, Barbanente also had an EXCITING Bar routine where she cemented a 2nd place finish with a rock solid stuck double layout dismount, the crowd irrupted in loud applause that was heard all the way over on the senior side. Isabelle West (Buffalo Grove), represented Region 2, had an outstanding Vault with a 9.65 placing eighth along with a sixth place finish on Beam with a 9.55. Cassidy O’Neill (CGA) placed sixth on Beam with a 9.55. Avery Balser (Buckeye) placed fifth on Bars with an excellent performance scoring a 9.625. Adriana Bustelo (CGA) broke into the Top 10 on Beam by placing eighth with a 9.55. Finally rounding out the Junior F session recap we have Gillian Rutz (Perfection) who scored a 9.575 on Bars placing sixth.

Senior F

Full Results

Our Senior F Team had an exciting final JO competition before they graduate! Unfortunately, the meet did not go as they planned with a sixth place finish over all. However, they did have an AMAZING Vault performance to give them a third place team finish on that event. Our only Top 10 placing was by Nicole Bars (Crystal Lake) placing 8th on Floor with a 9.575. We were all inspired by Kaitlyn Higgins (Gym Acad Rockford) toughness to get through the competition after a minor injury on Beam leading to having her toenail taken off prior to competing Floor and Vault. Ashley Hofelich (Oakland) fought through a much needed Bar routine (9.425) to keep Region 5’s spirit up. Karalyn Roberts (Splitz) had a BIG Vault (9.55) contributing to our team team score. Nicole Borkowski (New Heights) helped our team on Floor (9.475) and had a BIG Vault (9.575). Alyssa Wiedeman (Perfection) had a beautiful Floor routine scoring a 9.5, helping out the team. Bridget Killian (Legacy Elite) was our team’s leading Vault score (9.6) and had a HUGE floor routine opening up with an amazing triple full to score a 9.5. The last two senior sessions are usually the most emotional not only for the athletes, but the coaches and parents as well. This is their final moments together before they leave the safety of their clubs to continue onto the next chapter of their journeys. There were certainly a lot of tears on the floor during this session from all the Regions as they said goodbye to JO Gymnastics.

To relive all the great moments & routines from the 2018 JO National Championships from Cincinnati, Ohio please visit our social media pages. Videos will be uploaded throughout the week, along with interviews, pictures and special features.

Stay tuned for the highly anticipated All Star Team Announcement!

2018 JO Nationals Recap (Day 1)

Kim Dowis

May 13, 2018

Day 1 of the 2018 JO National Championships started a little slow, but really picked up in the end of the day with 2 National Team Champions and 3 National All-Around Champions plus many individual awards. Region 5 is well on its way to reclaiming the Super Team Title that has alluded us for the past 3 years!!! Lets recap the first day and stay tuned for day 2!

Junior A

Full Results

It is always fun to watch the Junior As, especially those who are at JO Nationals for the very first time, compete in the first session of the competition. They are so wide-eyed and curious, looking around and checking things out. It is very fun to watch them experience all of this craziness for the first time. This tiny, but mighty Junior A Team is a mixture of veterans (Elizabeth Gantner, Sydney Jelen, Katie Harper) & New Comers (Kaia Tanskanen, Rhyley Pitts, Taylor Devries & Kendall Abney) all had a great showing, placing 4th as a team, however it at the beginning of the competition it seemed as if they too might be making a replacement due to the fact that Taylor Devries (Legacy Elite) peeled off the bars resulting in a majorly blooding nose as a result of kneeing herself in the face upon impact. Some kids in their first JO Nationals might of cried or taken a few mins to collect themselves, but not this athlete. Her Coach Jiani said that she did not cry she just got cleaned up, but tissue in her nose, gripped back up and rejoined the warmup. Taylor spent the rest of the meet competing with tissue paper stuffed in one side of her nose. She did not let a possibly broken/bleeding nose keep her out of the competition.

Sydney Jelen (Legacy Elite) claimed the top spot on the podium becoming the 2018 Junior A National Bar Champion with a 9.600, as well as finishing 6th (9.525) on the Balance Beam. Rhyley Pitts of World Class brought big skills with her to her first JO Nationals finishing 3rd on the Balance Beam (9.575). Despite a bloody tissue filled nose Taylor DeVries (Legacy Elite) finished 5th on Floor (9.50). Our next 4 Juniors As all picked up 9th place finished on Floor (Kaia Tanskanen, MEGA 9.450) and Bars (Katie Harper-Universal 9.50, Kendall Abney-Twistars 9.50 & Elizabeth Gantner-JPAC 9.50). The Junior A’s are definitely a talented, promising young group of athletes who I am sure we will see again in the years to come.

Senior A

Full Results

The Senior A’s burst into the gym this morning ready and raring to go, they were full of energy and excited despite it being 8am. This team was lead by veteran JO competitions Delanie Harkness (Twistars USA), Emma Pritchard (Gym X-Treme), Dani Petrousek (GAR) & Anna Grace “AG” McCullough (Branch).

The girls were full of energy and ready to get out there, have a good time and enjoy the moment. However, the Senior A team faced a bit of adversity very early, when Brooklyn Conley (Gym Nasti) was forced to pull out of the competition due to an injury sustained during the training day. This last minute change forced Alyssa Parlich (Aerial) into the 7th competitive spot. Alyssa, who had to warm up her floor between the other routines, was confident and prepared having been practicing with her Aerial Teammate Payton Richards for the last few weeks in preparation for this moment to be able to step in if needed. Alyssa made the most of her chance by hitting her events and ending up placing 8th place on the Balance Beam (9.50).

The Senior As finished 6th place overall as a team, which was not really exactly how we wanted to begin our day, but they banded together and did the best they could. Its hard to compete in the first session at 8am at JO Nationals. Emma Pritchard, had solid performances, placing 9th All-Around (38.050), 6th in the Balance Beam (9.55) & 7th on Vault (9.675) Delanie Harkness, who is a former JO National Champion, placed 9th on the Uneven Bars (9.625).

Junior B

Full Results

Due to the pulling out of Regional All-Around Champion Alayna Karl (Naperville), Reese Samuelson (GAR) was left to lead this fresh crop of first timers. Nikki Smith (Oakland), who was the Michigan State All-Around Champion [in her age group], stepped into fill Alayna’s spot. The Junior B’s finished 5th as a team with Sarah Moraw (Champion USA) finishing 4th in the Vault (9.600), Nikki Smith made the most other chance and earn medals in the Vault & Floor place 4th (9.60) & 6th (9.50) Respectively and rounding out the group on the medal stand was veteran Reese Samuelson who finished 7th on the Uneven Bars (9.525). There is lots of promising talent in this age group and we will definitely see them again.

Senior B

Full Results
Andrea Li Interview

The Senior B’s completely dominated the competition, putting up huge scores all over the gym, ultimately being crown the 2018 JO National Senior B Team Champions. The powerhouse team that is Senior B also cleaned up some individual awards with Andrea Li (Legacy Elite) securing what she had let slip away last year. Andrea, who in 2017 fell from the bars in the last rotation, held on tight this time and caputred the All-Around Title (38.850), Uneven Bars (9.80) & Floor Exercise (9.725) she also added a 2nd place finish on the Balance Beam (9.650). Following Andi onto the podium were teammates Sierra Brooks (Aspire) who finished 2nd on the Vault (9.825), 4th on the Bars (9.675) and 3rd All-Around (38.425), Gym Corner’s JerQuavia “Q” Henderson finished 4th on the Vault (9.750) & 5th on the Floor (9.60), CGA’s Aria Brusch took home two 8th place finished on the Vault (9.675) & the Bars (9.650). Hannah DeMers, who started out strong then had a scary peel on her bars dismount, took home a 5th place medal on the Floor (9.600).

Junior C

Full Results
Faith Torrez Interview

The Jr C squad tallied a 6th place team finish, with a 3rd place team finish on Uneven Bars. Individually, Faith Torrez (Legacy Elite) was crowned Uneven Bars champion with a 9.6. Torrez also won Beam with a 9.725, finished 2nd on Floor with a 9.625, and 5th on Vault with a 9.575, which was drastically underscored. Torrez was ultimately crowned the AA national champion with a 38.525. Additionally notable, Avery Agema (Naperville) finished 5th on Vault with a 9.575, along with Savannah Miller (Oakland) who picked up medals on the Floor (9.525) & 9th on the Bars with a 9.475.

Senior C

Full Results
Gabby Wilson Interview

This year the Senior C age group was the ones to watch! The talent that comprised this age group is unbelievable. These ladies went 1,2,3 in the All-Around, claimed numerous individual titles and of course took the top spot as a team!

Olympia’s Gabryel Wilson tallied a 9.85 on Vault to finish 2nd, a 2nd place finish on Uneven Bars with a 9.7, 4th on Beam with a 9.625, the floor title with a 9.725, and was crowned AA champion with a 38.9! Helen Hu (IK) was named Uneven Bars champion with a 9.75, Beam champion with a 9.775, and finished 2nd on Floor with a 9.675, and finished 2nd in the AA to Wilson with a 38.875. Matilyn Waligora (Olympia) finished 4th on Vault with a 9.725, 3rd on Floor (9.65), 8th on both the Bars (9.600) & the Beam (9.525) and 3rd in the All-Around with a 38.5. Payton Murphy (Palmer’s) took home an 8th place medal on the Floor (9.525) and Olivia Amodei (Hunts) finished just behind her with a 9.500. Linda Zivat (Phenom), who competed for Region 2, took home two top 10 finishes on the Floor (9.500) & the Vault (9.525).