High Flyers gymnast. Courtesy photo

SPORTS News:

High Flyers gymnasts won four state event championships and captured many more second and third place medals at the New Mexico USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic Championships held over several March weekends in Albuquerque.

Competing in the Level 2 division, Mia Casados placed first on floor exercise and teammate Seanna Shedd won first place on the uneven bars. In Level 4 competition, Emily Smith earned first place on vault for the third year in a row, and was also first on floor exercise, her second such title in 3 years. She went on to place second on beam and all-around, narrowly missing the first place win by just .05 points.

Second place all-around titles also went to Siena Rolfe (level 4), Isabelle Gill (level 3), and Mia Casados (level 2). Rolfe additionally placed second on vault and floor exercise, while Gill placed second on balance beam and floor exercise. Other second place event winners included Ashley Bustos, Alana Hinojosa, and River Irving (vault), Sofia Enriquez and Naomi Starkenberg (uneven bars), Ashley Bustos, Elena Gallegos, and Kailey Posegate (balance beam), and Ashley Bustos on floor exercise.

Level 7 competitor Ashley Bustos won third place all-around and secured a berth in the Level 7 USA Gymnastics regional championships, to be held in Albuquerque Easter weekend. Kailey Posegate placed third all-around in level 3, and also took home the third place event title on uneven bars. Naomi Starkenberg placed third all-around at level 2. Event third place winners included on vault – Mia Casados, Maren Hoch, Seanna Shedd, and Sophia Sisneros; Elena Gallegos and Anna Kirkland on uneven bars; Elaina Irving, Megan Martinez, and Siena Rolfe on balance beam; and Elena Gallegos and Sophia Sisneros on floor exercise.

All-around results for the remaining level 2 competitors included Ashley Casados (6^th), Gwen DeBardeleben (5^th), Elena Gallegos (4^th), Alana Hinojosa (4^th), River Irving (5^th), Jillian Lewis (7^th), Jessica Points (5^th), Seanna Shedd (4^th), and Sophia Sisneros (6^th).

Additional results for level 3 competitors included Maia Cannon (7^th), Sofia Enriquez (6^th), Mairen Hoch (9^th), Anabel Irving (6^th), Anna Kirkland (5^th), Sarah Newman (8^th), Katelyn Tapia (8^th), Tiffany Tovesson (8^th), Valerie Valdez (9^th) and Katie Vest, who scored 5^th with an all-around score of 36.025.

In Level 4 all-around competition, Elaina Irving placed 4^th,  Megan Martinez 5^th, Alex Hinckley 5^th, Hailey McDowell, 6^th, and in Level 5, Sarah Worley placed 6^th all-around.

This meet marks the end of the competition season for the Level 2-6 gymnasts.