YMCA Gymnasts Win Tulip City Invitational

Since Michael Jordan ruled the NBA, the number 23 has been associated with great success stories in sports, and the YMCA girls gymnastics teams added their own 23 success stories at the Tulip City Invitational last weekend.

The Level 5, Level 6, and Level 7 teams combined to bring home 23 gold medals, and the Y’s 23 “Fun Meet” competitors brought home all blue and red ribbons for high scores.

“We have one of the bigger fun meet teams in the state,” explained 17 year old coach Kelly Van Deinse, “and it’s a great feeder program for our competition teams.”

That theory was certainly proven true at the Tulip City meet.  The Y’s Level 5 Team captured first place behind a gold medal all-around performance by Jade Turner, 2^nd place all-around finishes by Darby Drake and Annemarie Jenkins, and 5^th and 6^th place all-around scores by Kayla Brady and Sierra Klein.  Altogether, the Level 5 Team brought home seven gold medals.

The YMCA Level 6 Team also captured first place, led by 1^st place all-around gymnasts Rachel Ovalle and Olivia Flores.  Kayla Jackson placed 2^nd all-around and Samantha Neddo took 3^rd place all-around to help complete the victory for the YMCA team.

At Level 7, Kendra Benak won gold on bars and floor, Annie Gerstner won gold on beam and floor, Francie Flores won beam, and Patricia Davis won gold on vault, bars, and floor.  Together, they collected a 2^nd, 3^rd, and two 4^th place all-around finishes, good enough for a 2^nd place team score of 110.47.

YMCA Fun Meet competitors include Annie Ponstein, Julia Tabaczka, Kora Voss, Ciarra Reicha, Ella Wendel, Malorie Hood, Hadley Hilner, Jordyn Fortier, Skylar Malocha, Jayden Rawlin, Sophia Thompson, Summer Bennetts, Anwyn Livengood, Carson Krecow, Lily Briggs, Hanna Stalmack, Ryan Zrimec, Amanda Sweeney, Seryna Javin, Olivia Galton, Meredith Gallagher, Marin Barrett, and Avery Wisniewski.

YMCA gymnasts next compete at the Chicago Style Meet at Navy Pier February 11 – 13, cited by the Guinness as the “world’s largest gymnastics meet”.

Fun Meet Team.

Top row left to right: Lily Briggs, Jordyn Fortier, Carson Krecow, Anwyn Livengood, Summer Bennetts, Olyvia Galton, Malorie Hood, Ciarra Reicha, Ryan Zrimec, Ella Wendel, Jayden Rawlin, Marin Barrett, Skylar Malocha.

Bottom row left to right: Meredith Gallagher, Amanda Sweeney, Julia Tabaczka, Hanna Stalmack, Annie Ponstein, Avery Wisniewski, Hadley Hilner, Seryna Javin, Sophia Thompson, Kora Voss.

More pictures of the awards from this meet can be found by clicking here.