Information regarding All American Flames Gymnastix Teams,
The Lady Flames and Men's Fire Squad.

2008

Jan

2007

Jan

Cereal City Classic  -  Battle Creek, MI
2-16-08:  "All hail, Cap'n Crunch!"  The most important meal of the day was honored by Branch Gymnastics of Battle Creek, Michigan, as they played host to the 2008 Cereal City Classic.  Teams from across our state and region vied for the hidden prize inside the box of the Kellogg Arena.  The Lady Flames showed some improvement over last year's success, as each of their eligible teams brought home some hardware.
     The Level 4 ladies captured the spotlight by holding on to a razor-thin lead Sunday afternoon, and topping an always-competitive Twistars' team, for the top spot.  Lead by Kendall Leverenz' 37.600, the Lady Flames brought home their club's only 1st Place Team Award.
     The Level 5 girls found themselves in the thick of a very tough group of 16 teams, much like a raisin finds itself in a day-old bowl of oatmeal - stuck!  Stuck behind, arguably, the two top teams in the state, Splitz and Twistars'.  It doesn't take a GPS unit to triangulate their final location within the team standings, as they brought home the Bronze Team Trophy, lead by an increasingly confident Samantha Smith (37.025).
     How does a team rebound from a 106.050 to a 110.000 in one week's time?  You'll have to ask the Level 6 ladies for the specifics, but if you ask this author, the answer would have to be better effort in the gym... and... umm...  stayingontheeeeeeeeeequipment!  The Sixes were humbled by their previous week's empty-caloric starvation-a-thon in Chicago, only to find the grace to persevere the following week at the spread-a-liscious breakfast-fest in Cereal City.  They didn't quite devour the competition, but did consume enough for a 3rd Place Team Award.  Thank you, shirt-man, for your speechless motivational talks :)
     The Level 8's had a solid team outing enroute to a 4th place finish.  Wypasek was the early-riser (36.150) who caught the proverbial worm.  Worms for breakfast???  That may be an artistic stretch...  but roosters (birds) and Kelloggs... well you can see where this is going, don't you?  Or is this so corny that it's about to make you flake-out?
     The Lady Flames had "two-scoops of raisins..." in the Level 9 session as Leadbetter and Paeth refused to shrivel without injured teammate Stepp (~toe~ ironic?).  Leadbetter landed a gold-medal performance on beam, while Paeth did likewise on the vault.
     The Fire Squad men also performed.  While the Level 4's seemed to lack the necessary nutrients gained from a well-rounded breakfast, the Level 5's, lead by Robert Blandino's 52.450 (2nd) nearly satisfied their healthy appetite for competition.

IGI's Chicago Style  -  Navy Pier - Chicago, IL
2-8-08:  What do you get when you combine over 4000 athletes into one weekend of competition?  The "World's Largest Artistic Gymnastics Competition."  Without a doubt the Windy City played host to one of the best meets in the country.  The 10th annual IGI Chicago Style meet was fraught with gymnasts from around the country, in fact, the world, as Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas were also represented at the Navy Pier.
     The Lady Flames participants included the entire optional squad as well as 10 compulsory gymnasts (5 Level 5's & 5 Level 6's).  The injury-shortened Level 9's didn't have a chance to officially compete for a team award, but that didn't stop Leadbetter & Paeth from bringing home individual accolades.  Paeth placed 3rd (of 23) on vault, with a first-time routine.  Leadbetter seized the top All Around spot with a solid beam performance, and her best floor performance to date (both 1st).
     The Level 8 team finally showed signs of life as they inched their way up the rankings with a 6th place finish (out of 22), just missing the 5th place award.  Out of the 70 teams that participated in the weekend's L8 competitions, the Lady Flames demonstrated the best vault routines - a nice bragging point.
     The 5-girl team of Level 6's sputtered and stumbled through their early morning session on Friday.  Amanda Holderby's team-leading "O.K." performance (36.100) wasn't nearly enough to allow the Flames to compete with 4 of the top-5 teams (all from Michigan) as MEGA, AGA, Splitz and Hartland went 1, 2, 3, & 5 respectively.
     The 5-girl Level 5 roster finished a bit differently.  Finishing at the top at any competition is an honor, and a tough accomplishment, let alone the "largest artistic gymnastics competition in the world."  But that's just what these five girls did!  In fact, out of the 88 Level 5 teams that participated throughout the weekend, the Lady Flames L5's were awarded the highest team score 147.800 (top 4 scores).

Leadbetter FX (2.7 mb)