The Grand Traverse Bay YMCA gymnastics team brought home 10 first place individual awards, dominating their first team competition of the season, the annual Judge’s Cup in Ypsilanti.
“This is the first time we’ve competed at a fall event,” said coach Jennifer Van Deinse. Added sister and co-coach Gina, “We usually wait for the winter season in January, but this year we wanted to get an idea of how ready we are.”
If the medal count means anything, the girls certainly showed their coaches that they were ready, and then some.
At Level 7, Annie Gerstner won vault and floor, and placed second on bars and beam to claim the meet all-around title with a score of 37.55. Teammate Francie Flores was not far behind, placing second all-around with a score of 36.775, including a first place finish on bars and second place vault and floor routines.
Kendra Benak led the Level 6 team with a first place all-around performance and the YMCA team nearly swept the all-around awards with a 2nd place finish by Patricia Davis, 3rd place by Kayla Jackson, 4th place by Amy Davis, 6th place by Samantha Neddo, and 7th place by Olivia Flores. Individual event winners included Flores on vault, Jackson on beam, and Benak on bars and floor.
At Level 5 AnneMarie Jenkin’s first place vault, second place bars, and third place beam and floor scores were good enough for a third place all-around score of 34.4. Teammate Jade Turner edged her out in second place all-around with a score of 34.65. Turner placed second on vault, beam, and floor, and third on bars.
The YMCA gymnastics team next competes at the Twistars Invitational in Lansing, January 7-9.
