TEG qualifies 1 to nationals, 3 to westerns

Gymnasts from Tyler's Texas East Gymnastics traveled to Wichita, Kan., to compete in the Level 9 and 10 Regional Championships. Coach Martin Parsley said, "This meet is the most important meet of the year since it is the only place Level 9 and 10 gymnasts qualify to their respective championship competition. We have a motto in our gym ... "it all counts" and in Kansas this weekend, trust me - every routine counted."

"Every stuck landing, every pointed toe, every tightened muscle, every 'hit' bonus connection," added Parsley. "My kids had some misses but overall their hard work paid off and four of the qualified qualified to their championships."

Emily Rickman and Erin Odom were perhaps the two most consistent performers this weekend, said Parsley. They each made four of four routines with minor missed connections and wobbles. Morgan Key, Ciara Maradiaga and Denaya Moore made Coach Parsley sweat it out to the last landing.

Denaya began on bars, normally an easy event for her, but nerves prevented her from hitting every handstand, thus scoring a low 9. Competing in a very difficult age group, Denaya finished .225 out of the seventh qualifying position. She is feeling confident about making nationals next year, said Parsley.

Ciara also began the competition on one of her best events, beam. She had a very uncharacteristic miss on her mount and went on to have another on bars. Despite that, Ciara was able to stay mentally tough and qualified to her Western Championships and even became the floor regional champion along the way.

Morgan had her coach and teammates believing there was no way she couldn't make nationals until the last skill of her last event. Morgan sat down on her bar dismount and came away with only a mid 8 score. Everyone was relieved when the announcer named her to the fifth place for nationals!

The Western Championships will be in St. Louis, Mo., in two weeks and the National Championships will be in Kissimmee, Fla., in three weeks.

Qualifiers are outfitted through funding from the region with leotards, warm-ups, shirts, shorts and bags. All five of the TEG qualifiers are firsttime qualifiers and said, "It is so cool that we get all these free leos and clothes!"