Sidney Gymnastics

Coaches Pat and Jan McWilliams cautioned their gymnasts last week that they weren't going to the January 21, 2017 "Dare to Dream Spearfish Invite" gymnastics competition in South Dakota to necessarily win, but rather to learn what gymnastics "Big Dawgs" look like. As any coach of any sport knows, if you want your team to "step up" their level of play, you need to compete against athletes a notch up from your own group.

Well, "watch and learn" wasn't good enough for Sidney Gymnastics Club, they put up their own howl that proved to be as loud as the big dogs bark they were competing against; surprising their coaches with the outcome.

"We shouldn't have been surprised at our kids success at Spearfish, this is one hard working bunch of kiddos." said Coach Pat McWilliams. "We've got rookies looking like second year athletes, and second year athletes showing that they are ready to be champions."

The Spearfish Invite had athletes from four states-Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana-and is the highest level competition the McWilliams have taken SGC to in their six years of coaching the program.

Level 3 Results

Team Competition Results: First place, Spearfish Gymnastics Academy 111.950; second place Just Jymnastics 111.850; third place, Rapid City Gymnastics 108.100; fourth place, Sidney Gymnastics 107.300; fifth place, Ka-Larks Gymnastics 107.250; sixth place, Northern Pacific Gymnastics 105.100; seventh place, Gillette Elite Gymnastics 103.400; eighth place, Glendive Devil Dogs 101.350; ninth place, 307 Twisters 61.300.

"We went in with no expectation of a trophy, since most of our kids are first year; yet won the fourth place trophy narrowly edging Ka-Larks (Casper, WY) by a mere five hundredths (00.005) of a point." Coach Pat

"Our three top kiddos-Avery Barker, Morgan Kindopp, Emma Coughlin- are first year athletes scoring 35 and 36 all around scores, which usually doesn't happen until gymnasts are in their second year. Their leadership and high scores are resulting in the rest of the L3 group rising quickly as well.

"We had Level 3 kids jump one and two points in thier all around at Spearfish, in the midst of the toughest judging and the best competition they have seen all year. Rather than being cowed by the competition, they upped their game to match the competition."

SGC Top Ten L3 Individual Results:

6 & 7 Year Olds: Sophia Schoepp, seventh place, Vault 6.500; fifth place, Uneven Bars 8.500; sixth place, Balance Beam 8.400; fifth place, Floor Exerciser 8.400; sixth place, All Around 31.800.

8 Year Olds: Averi Riedel: sixth place, Vault 8.550; seventh place, Uneven Bars 8.700; ninth place, Floor Exercise 8.450; ninth place, All Around 33.900.

9 Year Olds: Vault: First place, Emma Coughlin 9.150; third place, Morgan Kindopp 9.100; sixth place, Avery Barker 8.900; ninth place, Natalie Judd 8.600.

Uneven Bars: Fourth place, Avery Barker 9.200; fifth place, Morgan Kindopp 9.100; tenth place, Natalie Judd 8.600.

Balance Beam: Sixth place, Avery Barker 8.850; ninth place Emma Coughlin 8.700; tenth place, Natalie Judd 8.450.

Floor Exercise: Fourth place, Morgan Kindopp 9.300; fifth place, Avery Barker 9.250; eighth place, Emma Coughlin 8.700; tenth place, Natalie Judd 34.100.

All Around: Fifth place, Avery Barker 36.200; sixth place, Morgan Kindopp 35.900; seventh place, Emma Coughlin 34.750; ninth place, Natalie Judd 34.100.

Also competing in the 10-year-old group was Hailey Getchell with an All Around of 29.500

12+ Year Olds: Tyra Witt: fourth place, Uneven Bars 8.800.

Level 4 Results:

Team Competition Results: First place, Spearfish Gymnastics 113.500; second place, Just Jymnastics 108.800; third place, Billings Gymnastics 107.350; fourth place, Ka-Larks Gymnastics 104.950; fifth place, Sidney Gymnastics 104.150; sixth place, Gillette Elite 102.200; seventh place, Glendive 99.500; eighth place, Northern Pacific 89.000; ninth place, Rapid City 72.100; tenth place, Summit Gymnastics 33.300; eleventh place, 307 Twisters 28.800.

Even though Sidney missed the fourth place trophy by only 00.800, Coach Jan and Pat left the meet very, very excited about the Level 4 team prospects at the next meet in Billings on January 27, 2017.

Coach Pat "Three of our main score counters were unable to attend this competition, and it was absolutely amazing to watch our other kids step up to fill in the gap. Every one of our gymnastics came up at least one point in their All Around scores under a tough, tough set of judges. One of our gymnasts, Allison Thiel, came up three and a half points in her All Around. That's like scoring 5 points at a basketball game one week, and then scoring 35 the next."

The coaching staff believes that SGC would have placed third at Spearfish if the squad was at its full strength of nine gymnasts. Expectations are high for the Billings competition where SGC will field the entire Level 4 team

SGC Top Ten L4 Individual Results:

A standout competitor for SGC at Spearfish was Marleah Campbell, who won two events in her age group and narrowly missed the top podium spot by 00.200 in the All Around.

7-9 Year Olds: Macy Tjelde: sixth place, Vault 8.700; eighth place, Uneven Bars 7.600/

10 Year Olds: Allison Thiel: tenth place, Vault 8.200; ninth place, Uneven Bars 8.200; eighth place, Balance Beam 8.500; eighth place, Floor Exercise 8.750; ninth place, All Around 33.600.

Kylie Schoepp: ninth place, Floor Exercise 8.500

12 Year Olds:

Vault: Third place, Marleah Campbell 8.8; sixth place, Lacie Selting 8.00.

Uneven Bars: second place, Marleah Campbell 9.050; fourth place, Lacie Selting 8.300.

Balance Beam: First place, Marleah Campbell 9.100; fifth place, Lacie Selting 8.400.

Floor Exercise: First place, Marleah Campbell 9.700; sixth place, Lacie Selting 8.350.

All Around: Second place, Marleah Campbell 36.650; fifth place, Lacie Selting 33.050.

Also competing in the 10 year old group was Hailey Getchell with an All Around of 29.500.

12+ Year Olds: Tyra Witt: fourth place, Uneven Bars 8.800.