Lakewood YMCA Gymnastics Team Shines at National Competition

The Grace Gymnastics team at the Lakewood YMCA picked up some big national honors this month at 2012 YMCA National Championships.

The local squad shined brightly in the four-day competition that hosted Y's from all over the country and feature more than 1,700 gymnasts.

The Level 8 Division of the team won first place out of the entire country, capturing the national championship by a wide margin its competitors.The Level 9/10 Division team took captured second place.

Individually, two girls from the team captured national titles. Bria Hamlin won the beam competition, en route to a second-place all-around finish in the senior division.

Keely Kirkley is the national champion in bars in the junior division.

In an e-mail to Lakewood Y staff today, Coach Kevin Milliren said it's a priviledge to coach such a quality team, and the girls are his heroes.

"For a few years now, we've become one of those teams/YMCA's that everyone seems to dread competing against," he wrote.

Here are the full results, according to the coach:

Technical note: The only levels that officially get the title of National Champion are Championship and Level 8 Team, Championship Division all-around and event winners, Level 8 all-around winners. All others are champions of the sessions they participate in, however because there are multiple sessions of their levels they cannot earn the title of National Champion.

Championship Division (Level 9 and 10) -- 2nd Place Team
"We lost by 0.8 to a really terrific Hanover YMCA team. These girls competed three days in a row -- the third day being the event finals. The first two days they compete in the all-around competition, combining both scores for their total AA score. They also combine the two team scores from each day for the team total, which means the 0.8 was even closer than it seems. We'll get them next year for sure."
 
Bria Hamlin -- 2nd All-Around Sr. Division (All American) 73.775
Beam -- National Champion
Bars -- 5th Place
Floor -- 4th Place
 
Sunny Lewis -- 5th All-Around Sr. Division (All American) 72.775
Vault -- 3rd
Bars -- 3rd
Beam -- 6th
Floor -- 5th
 
Ellie Conzatti -- 6th All-Around Sr. Division (All American) 70.150
Vault -- 6th
Bars -- 6th
Floor -- 6th
 
Keeley Kirkley -- 4th All Around Jr. Division (All American) 72.275
Bars -- National Champion
Beam -- 9th
Floor -- 5th
 
Tierney Goaslind -- 6th All-Around Jr. Division (All American) 71.850
Bars -- 5th
Beam -- 5th
Floor -- 6th
 
Julia Salazar -- 7th All-Around Jr. Division (All American) 71.650
Vault -- 4th
Bars -- 3rd
Floor -- 7th
 
Level 8 Division -- NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
"Our 8's won by 4 points and scored a whopping 149.80 points. For those who aren't really familiar with gymnastics scoring, they get that score by taking the top four scores on each event. If you do the math, that means that we averaged 9.3625 for every score that counted. That's HUGE! To win by four points is also a very big margin. We also were competing in the very first session on the first day of competition, when it's normal for the scoring to be a little low and tight. Our girls were UNBELIEVABLE!"
 
Event Places from Their Session Only -- 10th place or higher
Hannah Hamlin -- 2nd All-Around Jr. Division 74.50 (behind 1st by 0.125)
Vault -- 2nd
Bars -- 3rd
Beam -- 1st
Floor -- 4th
 
Alyssa Natsiopoulos -- 9th All-Around Jr. Division
Beam -- 3rd
Floor -- 1st
 
Alexis McKnight -- 10th All-Around Jr. Division
Vault -- 1st
Bars -- 5th
Floor -- 9th
 
Emily Beck -- 14th All-Around Jr. Division
Vault -- 5th
Floor -- 2nd
 
Tayler Johnston -- 15th All-Around Jr. Division
Bars -- 8th
Floor -- 5th
 
Sarah Burlingame -- 23rd All-Around Jr. Division
Vault -- 6th
Floor -- 2nd
 
Rachel Howard -- 3rd All-Around Sr. Division
Vault -- 3rd
Bars -- 1st
Beam -- 3rd
Floor -- 5th
 
Jessie Hogue -- 8th All-Around Sr. Division
Vault -- 6th
Bars -- 5th
Beam -- 3rd
Floor -- 1st
 
Sarah Crum -- 18th (tie) All-Around Sr Division
Bars -- 10th
Beam -- 7th
Floor -- 3rd
 
Danessa Blanford (first time doing Level 8) Jr. Division
Bars -- 10th
 
Mia Glastetter (first time doing Level 8) Jr. Division
Vault -- 7th
Beam -- 8th
Floor -- 7th
 
Cassidy McCloud (first time doing Level 8) Jr. Division
Beam -- 10th
 
Level 7's
Ashley Jones -- 2nd All-Around Child Division 37.075
Vault -- 6th
Bars -- 4th
Beam -- 5th
Floor -- 2nd
 
Katiana Welsheimer -- 3rd All-Around Child Div. 36.675 (first time competing Level 7)
Bars -- 2nd
Beam -- 7th
Floor -- 5th
 
Annaliese Johnson -- 9th All-Around Child Div. 34.925 (first time competing Level 7)
Floor -- 1st
 
Tajinae Whittier -- 1st All-Around Jr. Division 37.80
Vault & Floor -- 1st
Bars -- 3rd
Beam -- 6th
 
Mica Shaviri -- 9th All-Around Jr. Division 34.85 (first time competing Level 7)
Vault -- 7th
Bars -- 10th
Beam -- 2nd
 
Brin Herbert -- 14th All-Around Jr. Division
Vault & Floor -- 2nd
 
Level 6's
Natalie Raschke -- 1st All-Around Jr. Division 37.525 (first time competing Level 6)
Vault, Bars & Beam -- 1st
Floor -- 3rd
 
Kirsandra Welsheimer -- 5th All-Around Child Division 34.80
Vault -- 3rd
Beam -- 6th
Floor -- 4th
 
Level 5's
Lizzie McKnight -- 1st All-Around Jr. Division 37.125
Vault & Bars -- 1st
Beam -- 4th
Floor -- 3rd
 
Amaya Evans -- 18th All-Around Jr. Division 33.075 (first time competing Level 5)
Vault -- 7th
 
Level 4
Meagan Natsiopoulos -- 8th Place All-Around Jr. Division 36.30
Vault -- 4th
Beam & Floor -- 5th