Xtreme Gymnastics athletes enjoyed the national spotlight once again this year.
The local gym took 10 participants to the 2011 AAU National competition that was held in early July at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando. There were more than 1,000 competitors at the event and three athletes from Xtreme took home first-place finishes.
"We had a smaller group this year so I guess it was maybe a little bit more of a calmer nationals for us without having the large number of kids," Xtreme coach and owner Jessica Allen said. "It was still really intense.
"It doesn't matter how many kids we take, we want the best for every kid. We got there with intentions that they are going to really well."
Last year Xtreme took more than 20 participants as opposed to just hitting double digits this year.
"It was tougher this year than normal, I think there were a lot more kids at nationals this year," Allen said. "The competition was definitely fierce this year."
The three first-place finishers were Ellie Hoyt, who had the top score in the Level 5 uneven bars at 9.1, Rachael Taylor, who was first in the Level 8 all-around with a score of 35.775 and Mikcalia Reding, who was first in the Level 9 floor exercise with a score of 9.325.
Hoyt also finished second in both the all-around and balance beam while getting fourth in the floor exercise.
Taylor was also second in the uneven bars, third in the balance beam and fourth in the floor exercise.
Reding added three third-place finishes: the vault, uneven bars and all-around event.
Allen liked the readiness of all her athletes.
"As far as being prepared for it, I felt like we were pretty prepared," Allen said. "We had some first-time kids this year, it was a different experience for them but overall it was really good."
As for the other competitors, Sarah Beth Taylor placed fourth in the Level 2 vault and fifth in the balance beam while Mackie Decker was third on the Level 3 uneven bars before getting fourth in both the vault and floor exercise.
Kaitlyn Settlemoir got second in the Level 3 uneven bars and fourth in the balance beam while Macey Williams, also at Level 3, was fourth in the vault and fifth in the balance beam. Alexis Lady was third in the balance beam, and fourth place in the uneven bars and all-around event at Level 3.
Payton Reinbott, a Level 4, got second in the all-around event and balance beam while getting third in the floor exercise and fourth in the uneven bars.
Gabby Darnell got second place in the Level 7 uneven bars and floor exercise along with getting fourth in the all-around event.
Xtreme had some first-time participants at the competition to go along with returning veterans.
"I think the first-time kids go into nationals really maybe with no expectations," Allen said. "They are not really knowing what to expect so they are going to have a good time and try their best.
"It is still intense for them but they don't really maybe understand the full aspect of nationals."
The returning participants have more of a mental challenge, Allen said.
"The kids that have been several times, I think it is actually harder on them," Allen said. "They have been a few times and they know how intense it is and nerves get to them a little bit easier.
"You would think it would be the other way around where they might be a little bit calmer and know what to expect but for some reason it seems like for my kids it works the opposite."
All the athletes at Xtreme are taught about the mental aspects of gymnastics.
"We do some mental training with our kids," Allen said. "We try to get them to block everything out."
The sport, which is a balance of mental and physical strength according to Allen, also involves an amount of uncertainty.
"It is definitely both, I mean, they have got to be physically prepared," Allen said. "Sometimes no matter how physically prepared they are, no matter how many times you have done that routine and hit it awesome, they get to nationals and they get a little bit of nerves in them and have some wobbles on balance beam or have some unexpected things happen."