HICKORY – On Saturday, over 200 hundred young gymnasts from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia travelled to the Highland Recreation Center in Hickory, N.C., to compete in the T&T Power Explosion trampoline and tumbling competition.
Among those in attendance were 13 members of the competitive team from Physical Awareness and Gymnastics of Hamlet.
The team, led by coaches Terry Barrett and Earl Nicholson, accumulated 12 gold medals on the day.
Most of the team’s gymnasts competed in the 9-10 age group events. Those participants include Imani Culbertson, Cailey Chermak, Sophia Garner, Kendall Carter, Bella Miller, Sophia Zamarripa, Myah Williams and Alex Hutchinson.
Competing at the higher levels (5 and 6), Garner was put up against some of the event’s best gymnasts and still managed to collect gold medals in tumbling (level 6) and double mini (level 5), and brought home the silver in trampoline (level 5).
Claire Sellers from Ultimate Kids Gym in Greensboro edged out Garner by eight-tenths of a point in trampoline, but Garner returned the favor in the tumbling event taking the gold from Sellers by just seven-tenths of a point.
Culbertson, Chermak and Zamarripa won the gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively on trampoline (level 1). Despite nursing a broken finger, Chermak also added a gold medal to her collection which she earned in double mini (level 3). Zamarripa was unopposed in the double mini (level 2), and finished tied for second in tumbling (level 4).
Carter won a gold medal in impressive fashion in tumbling (level 4). She earned the highest score from each judge in both passes and finished more than a full point ahead of the silver medalist in that event.
Miller snagged two bronze medals in tumbling and double mini, both at level 3. Williams earned a silver medal in trampoline (level 3) and a bronze medal in double mini (level 4).
Alex Hutchinson finished second in boys trampoline level 3 earning a silver medal.
In the 13-14 year old age group, Caroline De Aguilar faced the stiffest competition of the day competing at level five. She finished in fifth place in all three events, but the scores in each event were very close. Only eight-tenths of a point separated the four gymnasts who finished between second and fifth in the double mini at that level.
Also in the 13-14 age group, Rafael Fairley earned the gold medal in tumbling (level 5) and went unopposed in trampoline (level 1) and double mini (Level 4).
John Patrick Hutchinson, who was the only Physical Awareness gymnast to compete in the 11-12 age group, took home silver medals in all three events. He competed at level five in trampoline and double mini, and missed the gold in level 4 tumbling by only a tenth of a point.
Molly Covington and Aubrey Cranford represented Physical Awareness in the 7-8 age group. Covington and Cranford finished in first and second respectively in tumbling (level 3). Covington also earned a gold medal in trampoline (level 1) and a bronze medal in double mini (level 4). Cranford won the gold medal in double mini (level 2) and took the bronze in trampoline (level 1).
The Physical Awareness and Gymnastics team will now return to its gym to prepare for next month’s state championships.
