CORALVILLE — The Oskaloosa YMCA Aerials competed at the Flip for Food Invite last Sunday, Nov. 23, at the Iowa Gym-Nest.
The girls had another successful meet, bringing home several medals and a second-place team trophy.
“I think the best part of the day was seeing Jensen (De Jong), our youngest gymnast, get her very first gold medal,” said coach Kayla Osborn.
“It was on bars,” added coach Meghan Slay, “She was so suprised, because its not even her strongest event!”
Other first place medals went to Sierra Davis on floor and Aliya Pargeon on bars. Pargeon also tied for the gold in the all-around, but because they break ties in gymnastics, she took the silver.
Slay explained, “Its kind of confusing. When there’s a tie on an event, the higher place goes to the girl with the higher all-around score. When there’s a tie in the all-around, the higher place goes to the girl with the highest event score. Aliya’s highest score was a 9.225 and the other girl’s was a 9.4, so Aliya took the silver.”
The girls are just about to the end of their season and one meet left before state (which they have all qualified for).
New gymnastics classes begin at the YMCA this week.
The gymnasts’ scores and places are listed below:
Jensen De Jong (age 6-7) — Vault: 8.8 (10th), Bars: 8.65 (1st), Beam: 8.5 (2nd), Floor: 8.55 (2nd), All-Around: 34.5 (2nd- 0.025 behind 1st)
Sydney Sarver (age 8) — Vault: 9.0 (5th), Bars: 9.1 (2nd), Beam: 8.025 (7th), Floor: 9.0 (2nd), All-Around: 35.125 (4th)
Ruby Johnson (age 9-10) — Vault: 9.15 (3rd), Bars: 9.2 (3rd), Beam: 8.9 (2nd), Floor: 9.075 (4th), All-Around: 36.325 (2nd)
Shaye Mateer (age 9-10) — Vault: 8.9 (10th), Bars: 9.025 (6th), Beam: 8.8 (4th), Floor: 9.05 (5th), All-Around: 35.775 (5th)
Aliya Pargeon (age 11) — Vault: 9.225 (3rd), Bars: 9.05 (1st), Beam: 9.05 (2nd), Floor: 9.05 (3rd), All-Around: 36.375 (2nd)
Sierra Davis (age 11) — Vault: 9.375 (2nd), Bars: 8.675 (7th), Beam: 8.7 (5th), Floor: 9.225 (1st), All-Around: 35.975 (3rd)
