Juneau’s Southeast Alaska Gymnastics Academy hosted the Ketchikan Gymnastics Club for the “Spring Into Fall Invitational” last weekend.
The SAGA Boys team competed Friday evening in six events: floor, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and high bar. Ketchikan head coach Lacey Murphy and his 19 visiting athletes competed against the SAGA girls’ team in compulsory levels 2-5 and optionals level 6, in two sessions on Saturday in vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Judges were Kaitlin Tallman, Nadine Thompson and Alexis Howard (boys).
SAGA’s Kaleb Campbell won the boys’ level 5 competition with a score of 55.9 First-year SAGA team member Keyton Eller-Prather was the only competitor in the boys level 4 division, finishing with 44.2 at his first meet.
Top finishers in Saturday’s first session featuring Level 2 and 3 gymnasts all came out of Ketchikan. KGC athletes Mylee Gray and Karen Abigania won divisions 2A and 2B with scores of 33.3 and 33.85, respectively. KGC’s Julia Biagi edged out SAGA’s Tristan Oliva by one-tenth of a point to win level 3B, while teammates Catherine Stout and Molly Stump took 3A and 3C.
In the last session of the day, SAGA’s gymnasts at levels 4, 5 and 6 fared well. Kate DeBuse took level 4 with a 29.775 and Megan Miller won level 5 with a 32.525. Megan Lujan won the optionals level 6A division with her score of 34.35 and teammate Cadence Campbell took first in the 6B division with a 33.9. No team totals were awarded due to there not being enough gymnasts from each team.
SAGA head coach Alexis Howard said in an email she was encouraged by her team’s performance.
“Overall I’m happy with the girls,” Howard said. “We usually don’t start our competition season with a big sanctioned meet like this; but with our meet in Hawaii coming up, we wanted to be able to gauge where the gymnasts are, and see where specific work is needed before heading over there in November. There’s room for those scores to come up. This was a great chance for them to be judged early and get right back to work.”
Ketchikan was last in Juneau for the May 2013 Gold Rush Invitational.
“We love having other teams come to Juneau,” Howard said of the friendly rivalry. “So many of our meets are intra-squad because of teams’ limited ability to travel. We are very grateful that KGC came up for this and hope we can schedule more meets between our two gyms.”
SAGA will next travel to Hawaii where they will compete in a three-day meet at the Kona Aerials Gym.
SPRING INTO FALL INVITATIONAL RESULTS
(Name, Team / Floor / Pommel / Rings / Vault / Pbars / High Bar / Total / Rank):
Boys Level 4:
Keyton Eller-Prather SAGA / 9.4 / 5.3 / 7 / 8 / 7.3 / 7.2 / 44.2 / 1
Boys Level 5:
Kaleb Campbell, SAGA / 9.8 / 7.2 / 9.7 / 9.6 / 9.9 / 9.7 / 55.9 / 1
Caden Johns, SAGA / 9.5 / 8 / 9.5 / 9.8 / 9.5 / 9.2 / 55.5 / 2
Tony Naegle, SAGA / 9.2 / 6.2 / 8.7 / 9.5 / 10 / 9.6 / 53.2 / 3
Silvester Montez, SAGA / 8.3 / 7.6 / 9.3 / 9.6 / 8.8 / 7.8 / 51.4 / 4
Mason Bernaldo, SAGA / 8.8 / 7.1 / 8.2 / 9.7 / 9 / 8 / 50.8 / 5
Elijah Levy, SAGA / 8.1 / 4.2 / 8.7 / 7.5 / 8.3 / 8.4 / 45.2 / 6
Girls Compulsory Level 2 Div A:
Mylee Gray, KGC / 8.7 / 7.5 / 8.6 / 8.5 / 33.3 / 1
Braidyn Young, KGC / 8.5 / 8 / 8 / 8.2 / 32.7 / 2
Ava Gauthier, SAGA / 8.1 / 8.6 / 7.6 / 8.1 / 32.4 / 3
Arionna Dowhitt, KGC / 8.2 / 7.5 / 7.7 / 8.1 / 31.5 / 4
Amber Merfeld, KGC / 7.7 / 6.1 / 8.1 / 8.3 / 30.2 / 5
Kari Klinger, KGC / 7.8 / 7.1 / 8.2 / 6.7 / 29.8 / 6
Compulsory Level 2 Div B:
Karen Abigania, KGC / 8.75 / 8.2 / 8.5 / 8.4 / 33.85 / 1
Jenna Walker, KGC / 8.8 / 7.6 / 8.45 / 8.35 / 33.2 / 2
Savannah Yeisley, KGC / 8.7 / 8.5 / 8.4 / 7.5 / 33.1 / 3T
Sara Cummings, KGC / 8.6 / 7.8 / 8.7 / 8 / 33.1 / 3T
Mackenzie Williams, KGC / 8.6 / 8.4 / 8 / 7.9 / 32.9 / 4
Compulsory Level 3 Div A:
Catherine Stout, KGC / 9.2 / 8.9 / 8.2 / 8.1 / 34.4 / 1
Kaelin Tibbles, SAGA / 8.7 / 8.2 / 7.4 / 7.9 / 32.2 / 2
Ruchi Haight, SAGA / 8.8 / 7.1 / 8.1 / 7.5 / 31.5 / 3
Hannah Dawson, SAGA / 7.8 / 4.8 / 7 / 6.2 / 25.8 / 4
Mariah Schauwecker, SAGA / 0 / 0 / 7.5 / 6.3 / 13.8 / 5
Compulsory Level 3 Div B:
Julia Biagi / KGC, 9.2 / 8 / 8.3 / 7.7 / 33.2 / 1
Tristan Oliva, SAGA / 9.15 / 8.05 / 8.2 / 7.7 / 33.1 / 2
Stella Moran, SAGA / 9.1 / 6.8 / 8.6 / 8.3 / 32.8 / 3
Kara Strong, SAGA / 8.5 / 6.7 / 8.7 / 8.15 / 32.05 / 4
Casidee Zartman, KGC / 8.5 / 7 / 7.8 / 7.5 / 30.8 / 5
Adelyn Buss, SAGA / 8 / 6.8 / 7.2 / 6.8 / 28.8 / 6
Compulsory Level 3 Div C:
Molly Stump, KGC / 9.1 / 9 / 6.6 / 8.7 / 33.4 / 1
Natalie Tavares, KGC / 8.9 / 6.4 / 8.4 / 8.4 / 32.1 / 2
Sky Raymond, KGC / 9 / 7.5 / 8.6 / 6.8 / 31.9 / 3
Compulsory Level 4:
Kate DeBuse, SAGA / 7 / 7.625 / 7.65 / 7.5 / 29.775 / 1
Shyla Abajian, KGC / 7.3 / 5.7 / 7.1 / 6.45 / 26.55 / 2
Compulsory Level 5:
Megan Miller, SAGA / 7.45 / 8.35 / 8.125 / 8.6 / 32.525 / 1
Ava Brown, SAGA / 8.875 / 7.75 / 7.65 / 8 / 32.275 / 2
Kaidence Bernaldo, SAGA / 8.25 / 6.35 / 8.1 / 7.95 / 30.65 / 3
Lillian Bernaldo, SAGA / 8.7 / 7 / 5.7 / 8.2 / 29.6 / 4
Abigail Booton, SAGA / 8.5 / 6.6 / 7 / 7.35 / 29.45 / 5
Optionals – Level 6 Div A:
Megan Lujan, SAGA / 9.35 / 7.6 / 8.7 / 8.7 / 34.35 / 1
Sydney Strong, SAGA / 8.4 / 8 / 8.75 / 8.7 / 33.85 / 2
Lauren Scarzella, KGC / 8.7 / 8.3 / 7.55 / 7.85 / 32.4 / 3
Rayna Gehring, SAGA / 8.1 / 8.2 / 7.6 / 8.15 / 32.05 / 4
Molly Brocious, SAGA / scr / scr / 8.1 / 8.1 / 16.2 / 5
Optionals – Level 6 Div B:
Cadence Campbell, SAGA / 8.85 / 8.15 / 8.55 / 8.35 / 33.9 / 1
Reneé Urriuta-Winn, SAGA / 9.2 / 7.9 / 7.1 / 7.85 / 32.05 / 2
Nicole Embree, KGC / 8.35 / 6.8 / 7.55 / 8.15 / 30.85 / 3
Rosemary Kiessling, SAGA / scr / scr / 7.9 / scr / 7.9 / 4
