By Staff Reports

 

AMERICUS – Sumter Gymnastics is riding a wave of success. They have produced three state champions in the span of three months. On Saturday, March 17, Sumter Gymnast Madison Smith competed in the Level 6 State Meet in Lawrenceville, GA and became the state champion in her age group in the floor exercise with a score of 9.225. Smith also earned a third-place finish in the vault, balance beam and all around competitions.

On Sunday, May 6, 21 gymnasts from Sumter County competed in the AAU State Meet in Carrollton, GA in the Xcel Silver Division, Angel Cobb became the first state champion in her age group on the uneven bars, the floor exercise and was first overall with an all-around score of 37.975. Cobb scored a 9.6 on the uneven bars and a 9.7 on the floor exercise. Cobb also placed second in the vault competition.

Carley Codner also won a state championship by scoring a 9.35 on the floor exercise, taking first place in that competition. Also in the Xcel Silver Division, Kayleigh Cox finished fourth on the uneven bars with a score of 9.35. Susannah Pierce finished in fifth place on the bars with a score of 9.25. Claudia Spradley scored a 9.0 on vault to take fifth place, and Lauren Williams placed fifth in the vault and the beam with a score of 8.95. Ava Cook finished in sixth place on the bars. Grace Stembridge took seventh place on vault with a score of 8.9, and Sarah Kate McRee finished in ninth place on the beam with a score of 9.475.

Kynslee Collins also competed in the AAU State Meet. Collins scored a 9.0 on the beam. Riley McRee scored a 9.0 on the balance beam, and Amelia Kinnebrew scored an 8.7 on the beam.

In the Xcel Bronze Division, Taylor Rush finished as the state runner-up on vault with a score of 9.2. Jayla Hawkins placed seventh on beam with a score of 9.25, and Kylar Woods finished in seventh place in the floor exercise with a score of 9.425. Grace Springer had a nice showing at the AAU State Meet, finishing in eighth place in the Balance Beam competition with a score of 9.2. Katelynn Stuckey had a high score of 9.075 on the beam, and Sandra Gail McCook scored an 8.1 on vault.

In the Xcel Gold Division, Wimberly Hines was the state runner-up on the balance beam with a score of 9.3. Madison Ingram finished in third place in the floor exercise with a score of 9.4, and Cameran Long had a high score of 9.0 in the floor exercise.

Sumter Gymnastic Coach Melissa Singley was extremely pleased with her team’s performance. “I cannot tell these girls and their parents how extremely proud I am of them,” Singley said. “There was some fierce competition at state this year with at least 15 gymnasts in each age division, so for these girls to bring home as many medals as they did was amazing.”

Coach Singley went on to say that many of her gymnasts had some season-best scores, but still didn’t place as high as she had hoped due to the high level of competition. However, Singley believes that the Sumter Gymnastics Team represented Americus and Sumter County proudly. “We represented Americus very well and we even had some compliments from judges on our gymnasts,” Singley said. “I love coaching these girls and I am looking forward to seeing what is in store for them at Nationals at the end of June of next season.”