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Gymnastics Revolution
Optional Team Competes At The Winter Sun
Invitational January 21,2005 Phoenix, AZ.
On Wednesday
night before they left, the Gym Rev girls found
themselves in a dark gym, hoping the power would come
back on so that they could work out. They wanted all
the extra hours of practice they could get before
heading to Phoenix, AZ for the Winter Sun Invitational.
It was not to
be, and the girls left disappointed, and knowing that
because of travel, they would now have to go four days
without training, and enter the meet without their final
workout.
But that all
changed in a sudden stroke of luck, when Olympic Gold
Medalist Amanda Borden offered her gym to the Gym Rev
girls. Brian was able to get in touch with her from an
airport in Cincinnati, and quickly took Amanda up on her
offer. Only hours later, the team was training in a gym
in Tempe, Arizona, with the captain of the 1996 Women’s
Olympic Team watching over them as hostess!
The girls’
workout was just what they needed to get themselves
ready for the competition, which would run on Saturday,
January 21.
Continued
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Photography
by: Philip Morton |
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The competition, held
at Arizona State University, featured some of the hottest gyms
from the American Southwest, a powerful region for women’s
gymnastics. And the little team from the Northeast held their
own.
Maddie and Mollie
took 7th and 9th place in the All Around.
Their consistent performances kept all of their scores in the
mid-to-high 8’s. Hope, at Level 10, was very sharp. A fall on
beam started her meet, but she soon recovered, and in the end,
took second place in the All Around.
The Level 8’s, known
to be strong, had a rocky start on the beam, but recovered
well. By the time the group got to bars, they were nearly
flawless. Everyone hit their bar routine, but none was cleaner
than Allie’s, whose 9.3 was one of the high scores of the meet.
Alanna won the event for her age group, and found herself in
third place All Around. Destiny had a beautiful second vault,
impressing her teammates and the judges with a 9.45. Lizzie
stepped up to the 9.0 club with her vault, as well, while Taylor
came up with very strong routines on Vault and Bars. Rachel, in
only her second meet with the team, had a very nice meet with no
score below an 8.575. |
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The Level 7’s were
led by Katie, who came very close to her goal of a score of 9.0
or higher on every event. Only the Bars kept her from that
goal, but a third place All Around medal kept her spirits high.
Erin was strong on the Beam, and Marissa, in her first meet,
showed that Vault would be her strong event this year.
The day ended with
Amanda Borden thanking the girls for a good time, and asking the
team to promise to come back and visit. New friends were made,
a number of medals were won, and the girls got to spend a few
days in the sun. Not bad for a weekend that started in the
midst of a Connecticut power outage!
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