The Region 5 All Star Team for 2016 has been released. This group is comprised of the top 12 Level 10’s (non seniors in high school) based on combined total of regional and national all around scores. Along with theses scores, the athlete must have participated in one of our Region 5 training camps to be eligible for the team. This year the team will be traveling on an international trip to Costa Rica sometime in October (details about the trip TBA).
Congrats to the following athletes for their outstanding 2016 season and qualification onto the Region 5 All Star Team.
**Gabby Wilson, MAG qualified onto the team but didn’t attend a training camp**
1. Payton Richards, Aerial Gymnastics (2016 JRD JO National AA Champion) 77.075
2. Andrea Li, Legacy Elite (2016 JRC JO National Team) 77.05
3. Anastasia Webb, IGI (2016 SRB JO National FX Champion, JO National Team) 76.925
4. Matilyn Waligora, Olympia (2016 JRC JO Nationals 6th AA) 76.575
5. Sierra Brooks, Aspire (2016 JRC JO National Team) 76.25
6. Kai Rivers, Twistars (2016 JRD JO National Bars Champion) 76.15
7. Sarah Smith, JPAC (2016 SRD JO Nationals 9th AA) 76.025
8. Emma Pritchard, Gym Xtreme ( 2016 JRB JO National Team) 75.725
Well the JO Level 10 Nationals in Fort Worth, Texas was an exciting end to 2016 JO season. Region 5 came into this years nationals missing some of big name athletes that we are used to seeing due to injury but the Dream Team stuck together and put up a strong fight. In the final team standings, Region 5 finished 3rd behind a tie between regions 1 and 3. Though this wasn’t the team placing we hoped for, we still were able to come away with 3 age group, 12 individual, and 2 all around national titles making it 27 years in a row with at least 1 national champion. Let’s take a look at the breakdown of each age group/session.
As with every nationals the junior and senior A’s kick it off and this year it was a bit of a struggle. In the junior A session, all 7 were first time JO National qualifiers and showed some nerves but gave it their all and will certainly benefit from this experience.They finished the meet with the 2nd highest vault score of their session. The senior A’s had some ups and downs during the meet but were able to finish 4th and earn 5 points towards the super team competition. They were led by SRA national bars champion Jenna Swartzentruber (Buckeye) and Bridget Killian (Legacy Elite) both finishing in the top 10 in the all around.
JRA- Grace King (AGA) 3rd on Vault – 9.575
Kaitlyn Grimes (BIG) 2nd Vault – 9.65
Halle Faulkner (MAG) 4th on Vault- 9.55
SRA- Jenna Swartzentruber (Buckeye) 6th AA (37.85), 1st Bars (9.625), 5th FX (9.6)
Bridget Killan (Legacy Elite) 7th AA (37.825), 8th FX (9.55)
Abigail Matthews (Cincinnati) 6th Bars (9.55)
Aleah Leman (Energym) 7th Floor (9.575)
Next up were the junior and senior B’s and both finished 3rd as a team adding 12 points to our team total. The junior B’s began on floor with a solid performance and posted the highest bars score of the session in their 3rd rotation. Emma Pritchard of Gym-Xtreme led the charge with her 4th place AA finish and a spot on the 2016 JO National Team. Erin Harty of Rockford, who was the alternate, had to step because of an injury and made a strong contribution to the team effort including her national championship 9.7 beam routine. The Senior B’s started out on bars with the 2nd best team score of the session and tied for the highest floor total due in part to the huge stuck arabian double front and a 9.7 from 2016 national floor champion Anastasia Webb from IGI.
In the new JO nationals format, 3 sessions took place each of the two days and the junior and senior C’s wrapped day 1 with a 1st and 5th place finish. The junior C’s were one of our strongest teams coming into nationals and showed it. They won our first age group of the weekend by more then a half a point over region 3 due in part to a strong bars and beam performance.In the all around, Andrea Li of Legacy Elite and Sierra Brooks of Aspire tied for 2nd and Region 5 had 4 in the top 10. Helen Hu nailed her mix of unique flexibility and skill to win the national title on beam. In senior C, Anne Maxim lead the way with her top 10 all around finish and the national championship on bars. Senior C’s finished 5th as a team putting Region 5 in 4th place in the super team standings going into day 2.
JRC- Sierra Brooks (Aspire) 2nd AA (38.375), 2nd Vault (9.725), 9th Bars (9.525), 10th on Beam (9.575) and Floor (9.55)
Andrea Li (Legacy Elite) 2nd AA (38.375), 2nd Beam (9.7) and Floor (9.7), 6th on Bars (9.6), 7th Vault (9.55)
Matilyn Waligora (Olympia) 6th AA (38.175), 2nd Bars (9.65)
Mickayla Stuckey (Cincinnati) 9th AA (37.925) 5th Floor (9.625) 10th Bars (9.475)
Helen Hu (IK) 1st Beam (9.7)
SRC- Anne Maxim (Olympia) 9th AA (37.7), 1st Bars (9.7)
Darby Nelson (Cincinnati) 7th Beam (9.55)
Madison McHale (Legacy Elite) 7th Bars (9.575)
Day 2 at JO Nationals began with the junior D’s starting out on beam while the seniors began on vault. The junior D’s as a team won every event but beam propelling them to the top of the team competition by small margin of just over two tenths of a point. However Region 5 dominated the individual event competition taking all four events and the all around with Gabryel Wilson of MAG being crowned national AA champion as well as vault, beam and floor. Twistars Kai Rivers (who won the JRB AA title in 2015) took home the national title on bars in 2016. The senior D’s finished 3rd in the team competition with 2 top 10 AA finishes from Cincinnati’s Gracen Standley (7th) and JPAC’s Sarah Smith (9th). The seniors had an exciting beam rotation with each one nailing their routines and going 7 for 7 to tie for 2nd in the event. After this first session of day 2, Region 5 moved into the top 3 in the super team standings
SRD- Gracen Standley (Cincinnati) 7th AA (38.125), 3rd Bars (9.65), 7th Beam (9.625), 10th Floor (9.475)
Sarah Smith (JPAC) 9th AA (38.1), 6th Beam (9.65), 9th Floor (9.525)
Cinny Lamberti (GymFactory) 5th Floor (9.6)
Next up were the E’s and the juniors lead by JO all around and beam champion Payton Richards from Aerial Gymnastics finished 5th in the team standings. Payton scored the highest score of the entire junior E competition with her 9.8 on beam. Senior E’s finished 4th in the team competition, but Twistars senior Jade Brown added another individual national title for Region 5 with her 9.725 floor set.
Region 5 went into the final two age groups sitting in 3rd with a long shot of winning the super team title. However the senior F’s were not going to let that stop them as they came out of the blocks swinging… literally. They began on bars and put up the 3rd highest bars team total of the entire JO National competition lead by the 9.7 from 2016 National bars co-champion Rachel Dickson (MEGA). They moved over to beam and continued to rock out sets for another top team score of the session. This team continued their momentum on floor and vault to claim the team title making it 3 over all for Region 5. Along with the team success, Rachel Dickson and Christina Berg were named to the 2016 JO National Team. The junior F’s finished in 4th place as a team lead by first year JO National qualifier Kaitlyn Higgins from Rockford. She broke the top 10 all around with her 8th place finish as well as 7th on floor. Claire Gagliardi (Olympic Dreams) and Anna Kaziska (Champion KY) both broke into the top 3 with Claire finishing 3rd on bars (9.65) and Anna 3rd on beam (9.625) respectfully.
JRF- Kaitlyn Higgins (Rockford) 8th AA (37.875), 7th Floor (9.6)
Claire Gagliardi (Olympic Dreams) 3rd Bars (9.65)
Anna Kaziska (Champions KY) 3rd (9.625)
Sarah Hargrove (Cincinnati) 8th Beam (9.5)
Though it was an up and down weekend for Region 5 this year, we had many standout moments and continued our legacy of champions at JO Nationals. Congrats to all our National Champions, JO National Team Members, and medal winners. Now we begin the work to get back on top in 2017. Good luck to all with your summer training and remember Region 5 has NO LIMITS.
The 2016 Level 9 Eastern Nationals were held April 28-May 1 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Unfortunately our Media Team was not able to attend the competition, so we asked coaches, parents and athletes to send us videos, pictures, updates and for the All-Around Champions to fill out our Region 5 National Champions Q&A.
Tristan Brown of Gedderts Twistars USA in Michigan was the 2016 Level 9 Eastern National Senior 6 All-Around Champion.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! How does it feel to be the 2016 Level 9 Eastern National Senior 6 All-Around Champion?
It feels really good! Going into the competition I really wasn’t expecting to win. When Brett called me over and showed me off of his phone that I won I was so happy and proud of myself!
Tell us how your meet went for you? Walk us through each moment of your day, warm-ups, events Etc……
My meet went a lot better than I expected. We started on vault and vault makes me really nervous so I had to take a lot of deep breaths to stay calm. After I competed vault I felt really good because those were some of my best vaults all year long. Next we went to bars and during warm-up on one of my teammates ended up getting injured and couldn’t compete the rest of the meet. At that moment I knew that I had to do my very best on everything else. After I competed bars I felt it was really good. Then we went to beam and I had a solid warm-up. I wasn’t that nervous to compete beam, which is unusual. After I stayed on the beam I was so happy because I didn’t fall at all this year at any competition! Then we went to floor! Floor is so fun to compete because there really is no stress in it! I showed off my routine the best I could. After it was over Brett was super happy and was saying “That’s gonna do it!’ I wasn’t quite sure what he meant, but I had a clue! After everyone was finished he called me over and told me that I was the All-Around Champion. I couldn’t of been more happy with myself!
What do you normally do between events to stay focused and read for the next event?
When I changed in between events I normally start to say keywords for the next event. If I do good on the event my confidence is high and I try to keep it that way. If I don’t do as good as I wanted I take deep breaths to calm me down and start to gain my confidence back up and act like that didn’t happen because I can’t let one thing ruin my competition.
Tell us about the atmosphere of the meet compared to regular season meets you have been too.
I think that the atmosphere was more exciting! Everybody worked so hard to get there and everybody is so happy to be there! There was a lot of cheering and it was just so awesome with all the adrenaline
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What is it like being part of Region 5 at Eastern Nationals?
Being part of Region 5 feels almost like a family. You literally meet the girl you compete with and like right away we all body really well and it feels like we’ve known each other for a long time. Also, all the coaches get really fired up which gets the athletes fired up and it just makes for an awesome time!
How has your experience been here at Nationals? What have you been doing besides competing?
I stayed in a house that we rented with all my teammates that made it to nationals and it was just super fun to be with them all the time. We get to really see their personalities outside of the gym and it’s just really awesome! On our last day at nationals we hung out on the beach and it was so fun to have a beach day with all my girls!
When the meet is over what is or what was the first thing you did to celebrate your win?
To celebrate my win we just went out to eat with my teammates and my coach and it was just a fun time!
Other than becoming National Champion, what was one highlight of the meet for you?
One highlight of the day was just getting so close with the girls I competed with. I love meeting new people so it was just an awesome experience. Also all those Region 5 cheers were amazing!
Anything crazy or funny happen during your competition?
One crazy thing that happened was when we were warming up for bars all of a sudden I looked over to who was going and I saw one of the girls laying on the mat with coaches around her and I was like “oh no”. Then the training came over and looked at her, she need up spraining her knee so she couldn’t compete the rest of the meet. It was really sad but all of us pushed through and finished off strong and took the win!
How does Region 5 compare to the other Regions out on the competition floor? what sets Region 5 apart?
Region 5 is a lot more energetic. We cheer more and I just feel like other Regions are laid back and cheer only a little bit, but Region 5 is super loud and just looks like we are having the time of our lives!
Who inspired you the most during your competition or day? What did they say to you? How did you get amped up and motivated to compete?
My coach, Brett Wargo, inspired me the most today. He told me that if I went out there and did my job and competed like I have been competing I would have an amazing day. So, I did just that and ended up winning!
Giavanna Javan a Level 7 from IK Gymnastics in Illinois did something incredible this past weekend, while her Level 10 Teammates and coach were off at JO Nationals in Forth Worth Texas, Giavanna fulfilled the dream that every gymnast dreams……. she scored a PERFECT 10 on the Balance Beam at the 2016 Level 7 Regionals hosted by Olympia Gymnastics in Shelby TWP, Michigan!
IK Gymnastics is known for having stunning, spectacular and impressive beam routines. This routine absolutely lives up to the reputation that comes with an IK beam routine. Giavanna’s routine was completely different and unique, which can be hard to do as a Level 7. Below is the video of the routine that was provided by her mom, please enjoy! I cannot say enough about this creative and stellar routine, I have watched it probably 10 times now!
The Region 5 All Star Team for 2016 has been released. This group is comprised of the top 12 Level 10’s (non seniors in high school) based on combined total of regional and national all around scores. Along with theses scores, the athlete must have participated in one of our Region 5 training camps to be eligible for the team. This year the team will be traveling on an international trip to Costa Rica sometime in October (details about the trip TBA).
