GYMNASTICS NEWS
Paramount Gymnastics’ Level 8, 9 and 10 gymnasts recently competed in their respective Regional Championship competitions.
The Level 8 regional qualifiers were Rachel Lukacs, Sarah Pallay, Melissa MacCollum, Jessica Leinbach and Kristin Brady, all of Hillsborough; Emily Shugan (Bridgewater); Hailey Patterson (Whitehouse); Myriah Sujansky and Anna Jantsch of Pittstown; and Renee Mallick (Belle Mead). The Level 9 regional qualifiers were Christina Rhoades and Casey Richards of Hillsborough. Corrine Stiffler (Flemington) and Jillian Hart (Branchburg) qualified from Level 10.
The Level 8 gymnasts competed in Waldorf, Md, on May 2-3. The top Level 8 gymnasts from Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia competed for individual regional titles and the six states competed against one another to determine the top team in the region. In order to qualify to the Level 8 Regional Championships, gymnasts needed to finish in the top 12 of the all-around at their respective state championship meets. The top six gymnasts in the all-around at the New Jersey state meet comprised the New Jersey Regional team and the 7-12 place gymnasts competed on All-Star teams. The Regional Championships is the highest level of competition attainable at Level 8.
Paramount’s Level 8 competitors claimed a total of six of those titles in the competition.
Emily Shugan of Bridgewater, competing in the Jr. B division, had an outstanding all-around performance that took eighth place (tied for sixth) with a 36.825. The New Jersey team, of which Shugan was a member, was runner-up in the team competition, missing the team title by half a tenth of a point.
In the Sr. B division, Kristin Brady and Melissa MacCollum of Hillsborough and Myriah Sujansky of Pittstown all earned a spot in the top 10. Brady won the third place medal for an outstanding bar routine earning a 9.225. She also took fifth place (tied for fourth) in the all-around with a score of 36.55.
Melissa MacCollum took the fifth place medal for a powerful vault scoring 9.4. Additionally, MacCollum and Brady carried their All-Star team to a third place victory.
Sujansky took the eighth place medal (tied for sixth) for a beautiful floor routine that earned a 9.375. In the Sr. C division, Jessica Leinbach took 10th place on beam with an 8.825.
The top Level 9 gymnasts from Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia gathered to compete in Regionals with their ultimate goal being qualification to the Level 9 National Championships, the highest level of competition attainable at Level 9. In order to qualify to the Regional Championships, Level 9 gymnasts had to score a 34.00 or above at their state championship meet.
Christina Rhoades and Casey Richards, two members of Paramount Gymnastics’ USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic Level 9 team, competed in the Region 7 Championships held in Allentown, Pa. in April.
Rhoades, competing in the Senior 8 age division, took fifth place on beam with a score of 9.3, ninth place on vault with a 9.075, 10th place on floor with an 8.95 and finished ninth all-around with her best score of the season, 35.275, just one spot away from qualifying to the national meet. This event marks Rhoades’s final meet as a USAG gymnast.
Richards, who was in the Junior 6 division, earned fifth place on vault with a 9.125. She was the second alternate to the nationals in eighth place all-around with her score of 35.975. Just two days before the Eastern Nationals were to begin, Richards was called to compete in Tupelo, Miss. With little notice, she went and joined the Region 7 team.
Eastern Nationals totals 26 states broken into four regions with six girls from each region. At this high-level meet, Richards received a 9.0 on vault, an 8.875 on bars, an 8.45 on beam, and a 9.075 on floor with an all-around score of 35.4. She competed with a foot injury, yet represented Paramount, New Jersey and Region 7 valiantly.