The Victory Gymnastics Academy Level 9 team won the NGA state championship. Team members include, Mackenzie Stamper (front), and back row from left, Adhvika Dhanya, Hayden Harper, Reina Kawamura and Triniti Wilde.
Submitted photo
Victory Gymnastics Academy had never competed a Level 9 team at the NGA State Championships, but that didn’t stop this year’s unit from bring home a title earlier this month.
“This is our very first year for our Level 9s to be able to compete as a team, so it was very exciting,” VGA owner and program director Gary Stam said. “It doesn’t happen every year. They were very competitive at every invitational we went to. We won the majority of our invites this year.”
The VGA Level 9s won all four events and the all-around competition at the NGA state event. They also finished fourth at the USAG state championships, narrowly missing third, and sent four girls to the USAG Regional in Lexington, Kentucky.
Mackenzie Stamper, an eighth-grader at Northside Middle School, was the NGA state vault, floor and all-around champion. She finished third in the USAG state on the vault and was regional runner-up on the vault and floor and was just three-tenths of a point away from making national team.
“It was very exciting since this is my first time competing as a Level 9, and it’s my first Level 9 title, and as a team, too,” Stamper said.
Adhvika Dhanya, a freshman at Columbus North, won the NGA state tile in the bars and finished third on the vault and in the all-around. She placed fourth on the floor at the regional.
“It’s pretty nice,” Dhanya said. “I think I did better than what I did in previous meets, so I’m happy about that. We’re going to do even better next year.”
Reina Kawamura, also a freshman at North, won the NGA state title on the beam. She was USAG state runner-up on the beam and finished third at USAG state and ninth in the regional on the bars.
“I was really proud of my beam routine,” Kawamura said. “Compared to the beginning of the season, I’m proud of how far I was able to grow.”
Hayden Harper, an eighth-grader at Northside, was NGA state runner-up in the vault and all-around and finished third on the bars and beam. She finished 13th on the floor at the regional.
“It was exciting,” Harper said. “It was a big accomplishment.”
The Victory Gymnastics Academy Xcel Silver team finished third in the NGA state championships. Team members include, front row from left, Emma Norton, Laila St. Rose; second row, Lilea Robbins-Brodfuehrer, Kei Pagan; and back row, Samantha Kelly, Lydia Chen and Amberlynne Colvin.
Submitted photo
Meanwhile, VGA’s Xcel Silver team finished third in the NGA state event and also competed in the USAG state event.
Lilea Robbins-Brodfuehrer, a third-grader at Clifty Creek Elementary, won NSA 8-10-year-old state titles on the vault, bars and all-around; and USAG state championships on the vault and all-around. She also finished second on the beam and floor at the USAG event.
“It was fun,” Robbins-Brodfuehrer said. “It was surprising.”
Lydia Chen, a sixth-grader at Parkside, was NGA 10-13 state champion on the vault and all-around and runner-up on the bars and beam. She was USAG state runner-up on the floor and all-around.
“I was really happy with the way I did because I worked really hard all year to improve my events and I was really happy with my scores,” Chen said. “I was also surprised when I won. It felt nice, and we were all really happy because we all worked really hard this season to improve our scores in all of our events and gymnastics in general.”
Emma Norton, a fifth-grader at CSA-Lincoln, won an NGA 10-13 state title on the bars and finished runner-up on the vault and floor and third in the all-around. She also won USAG state titles on the bars and beam.
“I trained for this all year, and I think I did the best I could in that moment,” Norton said.
Laila St. Rose, a third-grader at Edinburgh, was NGA state runner-up on the vault and beam and finished third in the all-around in the 10-year old group. She also was USAG state runner-up on the vault.
“I think this was my best meet all year,” St. Rose said.
Kei Pagan, a seventh-grader at Northside, was NGA 10-13 state runner-up on the bars.
“I think I did pretty good on floor,” Pagan said.
Samantha Kelly, a sixth-grader at Rockcreek Elementary, and Amberlyne Colvin, a sixth-grader at Schmitt Elementary, finished 10th and 13th, respectively, in the 10-13 all-around.
“I think I did pretty good on bars and floor,” Kelly said.
“This was the best meet that I competed this season,” Colvin added. “I did my best, which is all that matters, and I had fun.”
The Level 6s and 7s finished fourth as team at the NGA state competition.
Blair Ison of Jennings County was state champion on the vault and runner-up on the floor and in the all-around. Peyton Hewitt, an eighth-grader at Northside, won the state vault title.
“I think it was a good end to my season,” Hewitt said. “I worked hard on the vault this season. It was really fun and memorable.”
Karlie Haston was state runner-up on the vault. Alanna-Mae Purnell finished fourth on the bars.
VGA’s Xcel Bronze team won the Junior age division and the entire Bronze team finished third overall in the NGA state championships.
Abigail Johnson was the Xcel Bronze NGA state beam and all-around champion and was runner-up on the bars and third on the floor. She also was USAG state floor champion and all-around runner-up.
Bella Zhang was NGA state bars champion and runner-up on the beam and finished third at USGA state on the bars. Nora Wright was both an NGA and USAG state champion in her age division on the bars.
Paisley Kimla was USAG state runner-up on the beam and finished third at NGA state on the bars. Bryleigh LeBlanc was NGA state runner-up on the bars, and Alexandra Hite and Myla Quinlan were USAG state runners-up on the beam.
Elsa Murray finished third at USAG state on the beam. Placing third at NGA state were Jessalyn Baumbartner on the bars and Leanne Roberts and Riley Eddleman on the beam.
For the Xcel Gold division, Madelyn Brock was NGA state beam and all-around champion and vault and bars runner-up. Brock also was USAG state runner-up on the bars, beam and in the all-around.
Trinity Cooper was NGA state runner-up on the beam and finished third on the floor. Hannah Lorenz was NGA state runner-up on the bars.
For the Xcel Platinum division, Isabella Patterson placed fourth at NGA state on the beam and fourth at USAG state on the bault. Addison Gill finished fourth on the vault at both NGA and USAG state. Chloe Lorenz took sixth on the vault at USAG state and eighth on the vault at NGA state, and Savannah Depew was ninth on the bars at NGA state.
“They came along really far,” VGA assistant coach Shanthi Teike, who coaches the Level 6s and 7s. “The season at the beginning was a little bumpy because a lot of them were brand new and moving up two levels. But they worked hard and came to the gym motivated, and at the end, we brought home four state titles. We couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the season.”
