January 14, 2010
(Lansing, MI) The Grand Traverse Bay YMCA girls gymnastics team picked up right where they left off last season, bringing home 18 individual first place medals last weekend. The Twistars “Rock the House” Invitational kicked off the 2010 season for all of the top teams throughout Michigan. Hosting more than 1,000 gymnasts, the Twistars meet is Michigan’s largest invitational.
“The girls enjoyed a lot of success last year competing at Level 5,” said coach Jennifer Van Deinse, whose Level 5 team placed among the top in the state in 2009, including four 1st place individual medals. Sister and co-coach Gina added, “But we knew we really had to work hard to compete at Level 6. I guess all the hard work paid off.”
It paid off big time.
Annie Gerstner, Francie Flores, Kayla Jackson, and Samantha Neddo all took 1st place All Around in their respective divisions. Gerstner continued her reign as the top vaulter in the state with a 9.45 performance, and also won Bars and Floor, while she placed 2nd on Beam. Flores won Bars and Beam and took 2nd on Vault for an All Around score of 36.075, and Jackson’s 9.325 Vault and 9.15 Beam were enough to catapult her to the top All Around score of 35.8. Samantha Neddo put in championship performances at Bars and Beam, and placed 2nd on Vault and Floor to win All Around in her division.
Other YMCA championship performances were turned in by Amanda Gardner (1st place 9.45Bars and 2nd place Floor), Kendra Benak (1st place 9.125 Floor and 2nd place Bars and All Around), Patricia Davis (1st place 9.025 Floor and 2nd place Beam and All Around), Olivia Flores (1st place 9.00 Bars and 3rd place All Around), Rachel Ovalle (1st place 9.25 Vault and 3rd place All Around), Amy Davis (2nd place Bars and 4th place All Around), and Kalyn Peterson (2nd place Beam and 5th place All Around).
YMCA director Betsy Van Deinse manages all of the YMCA gymnastics teams and recreational programs. “We teach the girls to work hard, play hard, and pray hard,” she explains of the program’s success. “We’re so proud of each one of our 40 team girls,” she adds, “but there are another 500 recreational level girls at our gym moving up the skills ladder, ready to follow in their footsteps, so we hope to see this kind of success for years to come.”
For more information about Y Gymnastics, call Betsy at 929-2869, stop in to the Y Gymnastics facility at 1100 Woodmere, Suite A, or visit the YMCA website at www.gtbayymca.org.
