The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama Gym turned in the best performance by the local teams and the Lakewood Ranch Gym led the way for the visiting teams that competed in the 2014 Atlantic Crown that concluded at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island on Sunday.

The event, hosted for the fourth consecutive year, featured competition from Level One to 10 as well as the two elite classes. Teams from the Bahamas participated in the first four classes. Action was held in the four categories, including the vault, bars, beam and floor to determine each competitor’s overall results.

Dianna Whylly, one of the five coaches of the Grand Bahama Gym, said they were extremely pleased with their 38-member team’s performance.

“Overall the girls did very well,” Whylly said. “Our level one team came first, our level two came second, our level three was third. Our level four came second, so we were very, very proud of them,” Whylly said. “We expected that. They came ready and they performed. They did an excellent job.”

This was the Grand Bahama Gym’s second consecutive year participating in the tournament and Whylly said it was all about their “consistency, hard work and the training” that their gymnasts put into practice at the gym when they come to work out in Grand Bahama.

One of the top performances from the Grand Bahama Gym came from Savannah Gardiner, who was second overall in Level 4 12-14 years old division with 36.550 points behind Lakewood Ranch Gym’s Dara Dawson, who took the overall title with 37.850. To her credit, Gardiner won the vault with 9.300, was third in both the bars (9.075) and the beam (9.300) and fifth on the floor (8.950).

“It was good. Fierce. We had fun. Although we stumbled and fell and lost some points, we still did our best,” said Gardiner, a 12-year-old student of Bishop Michael Eldon, who has only been competing for two and-a-half years. “It was good. We had a lot of high team standings. We did good as a team. I expected to perform the way I did. I was pleased with my performance as well.”

Joining Gardiner in outstanding performances from Grand Bahama were Seanae Norville Smith and Eden Bullard (Level One 4-6 first and second place), Cayden Sweeting and Sage Smith (Level 1 7-9 years first and third place) and Tyra Parker and Breanna Moss (Level 1 10-14 years second and third place).

Grand Bahama Gym won Level One with 28.800 points, followed by the BGPBC-Bahamas Stars with 27.650 and the Nassau Nastics was third with 26.925.

The Lakewood Ranch Gym won Level Two with 29.150 points with Grand Bahama Gym second with 28.600, No Limits Gym Panama third with 27.950, Nassau Nastics was fourth with 27.775 and the BGPBC-Bahamas Star rounded out the field with 27.875.

In Level Three, Lakewood Ranch Gym also won with 29.0254 with the Buckeye Gymnastics second with 28.025 and the Grand Bahama Gym third with 28.025. The BGPBC-Bahamas Star was fourth with 28.275 and the Nassau Nastics finished ninth with 26.850.

And in Level Four, Lakewood Ranch Gym posted first place with 28.950 with the Branch Gym second with 28.600 and the ACE Gymnastics from New Jersey came in third with 28.400. The BGPBC-Bahamas Stars was fourth with 28.150.

Only two teams participated in Level Five with the Euro Stars posting 27.675 for the win over the All Stars Gym from New York taking, who had 27.275.

The Sonshine won Level Six with 28.875, followed by Lakewood Ranch Gym with 29.125 and Palmer’s Gymnastics rounding out the top three with 28.600.

The Buckeye Gymnastics won the Level Seven with 28.900, followed by Sonshine with 28.225 and the 1st Class Gymnastics taking third with 28.150.

The Lakewood Ranch Gym also captured Level Eight with 27.850 points over the Palmer’s Gymnastics, who had 27.775. Sonshine was third with 27.200.

In Level Nine, ACE Gymnastics led the way with 26.025, followed by the TNT Elite from New Jersey with 23.275. The Kansas City Gym completed the top three with 25.400.

And in Level Ten, the Sonshine won with 25.750. The Docksiders Gym got second with 26.550 and the TNT Elite from New Jersey was third with 26.350.

The Broderick Gym was the only team in the elite one, finishing with 28.150 points and the Lakewood Ranch Gym was the only team in the elite two with 25.075.

Trevor Ramsay, a coach for Nassau Nastics, which fielded a total of 23 gymnasts, said he felt they did pretty good.

“We had most of our competitors competing in levels one and two when they competed on Thursday and we had one level four, who competed today,” he said. “They all did a good job. This is their first competition at this level because they all moved up from last year and it is the beginning of the season, so I expect them to get better the more they compete next year.”

Danielle Moore was one of the top performers for Nassau Nastics, taking third in the Level 2 6-7 years behind Lakewood’s Baylie McKenna and Maya Miller of BGPBC-Bahamas Stars. Alia Beneby was third for Nassau Nastics in the Level 2 8-9 years and Jahzara Seymour was fourth in the Level 2 10-13 years. Taleah Fox of Grand Bahama Gym was third. Lakewood Ranch Gym dominated by taking the top two spots with Elizabeth Rutland and Jada Fisher respectively.

Barbara Thompson, president of the Bahamas Gymnastics Association, said the tournament was another smashing success.

“The organisers are very experienced in putting these high calibre meets together and it went off without a hitch,” she said. “I would have liked to have seen a few more Bahamians in the audience. We need to do a little more promotional efforts because this sport has a lot of public appeal.

“Next year, we will also be bringing in a men’s competitive team, so we would like to see some boys come out and get involved. The audience was great, the competitors were great and the organising team was phenomenal, so as we continue to go forward, we are looking at having this meet expand even more.”

Al Scharns, the meet director, said it was an awesome meet with more than 100 gymnasts entered from last year.

“Every year it’s growing, so we are very, very excited about the potential of it growing even more,” he said. “Next year we are going to be introducing boy gymnasts with the women’s gymnasts, so we are very excited about that. We have partnered with Sam Mikulak, the 2012 Olympian and the top gymnasts in the United States, to do the men and women championships.

“But this year, we had great support from Atlantis, great support from the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the Bahamas Gymnastics Federation and the International Gymnastics Camp. This is our fourth year and we are already planning to return from December 17-20, 2015.”