Mia Lord, senior level 10 from DeVeaus Gymnastics, competes in her final Region 5 Championships next weekend in front of her family and friends. She has been at DeVeaus her whole life and gets to end her JO career in her hometown as both regionals and nationals are in Indianapolis. Mia talks about the support her teammates have given her through the years. She has represented Region 5 in three JO National Championships which are some of her favorite moments in her career and hopes to have one more opportunity to be apart of the atmosphere before heading to Northern Illinois.
This weekend marks the first stop on the road to the NCAA gymnastics championships. On Saturday, the NCAA Regional Championships will take place in six locations around the country. From regionals, the top 2 teams, and top 2 all arounders (not members of the top 2 teams) * qualify onto the NCAA Championship semi finals in St. Louis Missouri on April 14th. The top 3 teams from each of two semi finals will compete in the “Super Six” team finals for the National Championship on April 15th.
This season there are 82 Region 5 Alums representing their respective schools as a team or individual at the NCAA Regionals. As the freshman get their first taste of championship atmosphere, seventeen seniors hope this isn’t the last competition of their careers. Eleven of our Region 5 Alums are ranked in the top 25 nationally in the AA or individual events this season. Here is a list of all of our Region 5 Alums whose teams qualified or qualified individually in all six NCAA regional sites. #R5Difference
Top 25 nationally in the All Around, Top 25 nationally on individual events
*If a gymnast wins an event at Regionals she advances to the NCAA Semi Finals as well
Seattle Regional
1. Oklahoma: Brehanna Showers Fr (R-Athletics)
2. Kentucky: Katie Carlisle, JR (Buckeye) Sydney Waltz, JR (Gold Medal) Cori Rechenmacher, JR (Legacy Elite/Aerial)
4. Utah State: Hayley Sanzotti, SR (IGI)
Gainesville Regional
1. Florida: Amelia Hundley Fr (Cincinnati)
2. Georgia: Rachel Dickson Fr (MEGA)
5. Penn State: Jessica Jones, SO (Youngstown) Amber Autry, SO (Stars/Stripes)
6. North Carolina: Madison Hargrave SO (Sharps Gymnastics), Selina Zhang, FR (Cincinnati), Morgan Lane JR (Victory Gymnastics)
AA and Individual Qualifiers
Alecia Farina, Maryland FR (GymWorld) Floor
Fayetteville Regional
5. Arkansas: Amanda Wellick, SR (Legacy Elite), Sydney McGlone, SO (Universal Gymnasts), Michaela Burton FR (Legacy Elite)
6. Central Michigan: Rachel Carr, SR (DeVeaus) Miranda Wieczorek, JR (GymKinetics) Macey Hilliker, JR (Bay Valley) Courtney Campbell, JR (MAG) Kailey Miller, SO (Premier Athletics) Kasey Janowicz, SO (Bay Valley)
AA and Individual Qualifiers
AA: Alexis Brawner, SEMO SO (Hunts)
AA: Ashley Potts. NIU SO (HUGS)
AA: Katherine Prentice, NIU JR (Wrights)
Jamyra Carter, NIU SR (Splitz) Bars
Courtney Dowdell, NIU SR (UGA) Bars, Floor
Gabrielle Cooke, ISU FR (IK GYM) Floor
Morgantown Regional
1.Alabama: Amanda Jetter, SR (Cincinnati), Shea Mahoney, FR (Legacy Elite)
2. Michigan: Nicole Artz, SR (Champion USA) Brianna Brown, JR (Cincinnati), Olivia Karas, SO (IK)Emma McLean, SO (Stars/Stripes), Paige Zaziski, JR (Hunts), Lexi Funk, FR (IGI)
5. West Virginia: Brooklyn Doggette, SR (Buckeye)
6. Kent State: Ellen Demarest, SR (Gahanna Cyclone) Milena Fabry, SR (Elite Gymnastics Academy) Michaela Romito, JR (Gymnastics World of Ohio) Brooke Timko, JR (Olympic Dreams) Dara Williams, SO (Gymnastics ETC) Sarah Lippowitsch, SO(Queen City), Jade Brown, FR (Twistars), Emily Kelly, FR (Aerial), Sammi Nero, FR (Elite Gymnastics Academy), Alyssa Quinlan, SO (Gymnastics Michiana), Darby Stanton, FR (JPAC), Gabby Williams, FR (Youngstown)
AA and Individual Qualifiers
AA: Caroline Morant, JR Brown (Legacy Elite)
video: ECAC sports
Champaign Regional
1. UCLA: Madison Preston, FR (Cincinnati)
3. Iowa: Lexi Mura, SR (World Class) Melissa Zurawski, JR (BIG) Tessa Walsh, SO (IGI)
4. Illinois: Mary Jane Horth, SR (Gymnastics World of Ohio), Karen Howell, FR (Olympia)
5. Eastern Michigan: Megan Marino, JR Kirsten Gendron, JR (Mid Michigan) Katie Conrad, JR (Conrad’s Gymnastics) Megan Hultgren, SO (Rockford) Ciara Gresham, SO(World Class) Kaitlyn Ford, SO (Legacy Elite) Carly Clark, SO (Oakland) Sydney Audet, SO (New Heights) Emili Dobronics FR (UGA).
6. Ohio State: Tenille Funches, SR (Arena, UGA) Janelle McClelland, SO (SOGA) Olivia Aepli, FR (Buckeye)
AA and Individual Qualifiers
AA- Rachel Underwood, Western Michigan SO (Crystal Lake)
AA- Anna Corbett, Western Michigan SR (Aerial)
Lauren Feeley, Bowling Green SR (Ultimate) Vault
Jessie Peszek, Western Michigan, SR (DeVeaus) Bars, Beam
Lincoln Regional
1. LSU: Lexie Priessman, SO ( Cincinnati, Perfection)
3. Nebraska: Jennie Laeng, SR (Olympic Dreams), Grace Williams, JR (Twistars), Megan Schweihofer, SO (Hunts)
4. Arizona: Haylie Hendrickson, SO (Set-10) Christina Berg, FR (Legacy Elite)
Learning for Life, Not Just Sports Competition… Dave Anthony from Universal Gymnasts was mic’d during his level 10 vault rotation at the 2017 Midwest Challenge hosted by JPAC. Dave’s style is to correct mistakes while motivating the gymnast at the same time. He is quick to give a encouraging word and pump them up when warm-ups don’t go as planned.
The road to Level 9 Eastern Nationals started today in Battle Creek, Michigan at the 2017 Michigan State Meet. Clubs from around the state arrived in the Cereal City to via for state titles and qualifying scores. There was some stellar competition spread across two sessions with Twistars coming out on top in two age groups and the overall team score! Below are the results for both sessions combined.
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Meet Results
Level 9
Junior A
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Vault
Eliana Thompson-Twistars, 9.400
Emma Stoddard-Oakland & Abby Bielski-Twistars, 9.300
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Bars
Alexis Xiromeritis-Twistars, 9.650
Elle Beaufait-All American Flames & Abby Bielski-Twistars, 9.500
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Beam
Alexis Xiromeritis-Twistars, 9.625
Kendall Abney-Twistars, 9.500
Kaia Tanskanen-MEGA, 9.425
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Floor
Eliana Thompson-Twistars & Hannah Scheible-All American Flames, 9.725
Darby Nelson of Cincinnati Gymnastics is finishing up her senior JO season, not only with CGA, but also Region 5. Once she graduates Darby will be taking her gymnastics talents onto the next level. She has signed to a full scholarship with the University of Pennsylvania. Darby is an extremely talented young athlete, she will contribute to UPenn on many events and stand out as supportive teammate. Darby is headed into Region 5 Championships in two weeks looking forward to representing CGA one last time and to qualify to a final JO Nationals. Lets get to know Darby Nelson a little bit better as she closes out her JO Club Career and prepares herself for College Life.
How did you get into gymnastics? How old were you? I started gymnastics when I
was a year and a half and I started with mommy and me classes. My mom started them because my brother did them and it was an activity to burn off some energy.
What is your favorite event? My favorite event is beam
What is your favorite part of gymnastics? My favorite part of gymnastics is that it teaches many life lessons while
What college do you plan on attending? The University of Pennsylvania
What is your favorite meet to compete at? My favorite meet to compete at is JO Nationals because you get to meet new people and is a fun atmosphere.
Biggest accomplishment in gymnastics so far? Having the ability to continue gymnastics in college and JO Nationals
Favorite skill to train and/or compete I don’t have a favorite skill to train but my favorite event to train is beam
Dream skill? My dream skill would be a full in on floor
Who do you most admire in the sport of gymnastics? I admire the lessons that I have learned and drive that I have gained in the sport that I can take with me wherever I go in life.
What is your all-time favorite leotard? Do you still your very first leo? My favorite leotard is a blue, white, and yellow practice leotard and I unfortunately don’t still have my very first leotard.
What is your favorite movie? My favorite movie is Miracle
What is your go to playlist or song before meets? My favorite song before a meet is Here It Is with Flo Rida and Chris Brown
What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a pediatric oncologist
Where do you go to High School? Ursuline Academy
What is your favorite color? Any shade of blue
What do you like to do outside of Gymnastics? I love to volunteer with Special Olympics and spend time with family and friends
Favorite Gymnastics Moment? My favorite gymnastics moment was when I caught my jaeger for the first time and feeling the rush of emotion and excitement
If you weren’t a gymnast, what sport would you do or try? If I wasn’t a gymnast I would want to be a swimmer
If you could live anywhere in the world where would you live? If I could live anywhere I would live in Australia.
If you could have lunch with anyone dead or alive who would it be and why? I would have lunch with Katherine Johnson. Through gymnastics, learning how to overcome obstacles and deal with adversity is a big lesson and Mary Jackson did just this at NASA being a woman in a male dominated field. I would love to learn how she handled the criticism and uncharted waters with ease and grace and how her knowledge learned in these situations could help us in the future.
Check out Darby Nelson’s 2016 JO National beam routine
