Hello Centenary Gymnastics Fans!! This is Junior Emma Lavelle here with this week’s Gym Talk and let me tell you, it was a fun-filled week. So, grab a snack, sit back, and relax.
Where do I even begin…
After returning from our weekend in St. Charles, the Ladies got back to work in the gym, becoming one-tenth better on each event. On Tuesday, the Ladies, with the help of our football team set up the Gold Dome for our double meet weekend. We want to give a HUGE SHOUTOUT to Centenary Football for making our lives easier, we appreciate every one of you!!!
Our first night of competition was our Sylvia Meet. Sylvia Keiter was a Centenary Gymnastics alum who was tragically struck and killed by a drunk driver in 2018. Centenary Gymnastics now hosts a meet each year in dedication to Sylvia. She was a light in and out of the gym: courageous, passionate, and most importantly supportive. Sylvia had everyone’s back, and we want to have her back by sharing her legacy with past, present, and future teams.
This year, Centenary Gymnastics asked everyone in attendance including the visiting teams to sign MADD’s (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) ToGetThere Pledge. Which can be found here: https://madd.org/togettherepledge/. If you have not done so already, I encourage you to read and sign this pledge. You can help us support Sylvia and MADD in the future of No More Victims. In between our second and third event, we asked everyone to fold their pledges into paper airplanes and try and throw them to a table to win a prize. I personally don’t think I would have won that game because my paper airplanes usually go kaput right as they leave my hand, but quite a few paper airplanes went soaring and won a prize.
If I ever had to put money on someone winning a paper airplane contest (which I never would) I would put everything on Sophie Schmitz - Sophie is a paper airplane making wizard. Speaking of wizards, did you know Sylvia was a Harry Potter fanatic!? As a Harry Potter fan myself, I was so excited to see that the team moms had decorated our locker room Harry Potter themed.
The Ladies achieved multiple season and career highs at our Sylvia Meet. The energy was electric in the Dome. Shoutout to (and bear with me as this is a long list of achievements) Amy Foret for achieving a season and career high on beam (9.8), Emma Lavelle for a season high on bars, Emily McClung for a season high on floor, Hayden Cagle for a season and career high on beam, Rylie Molina for a season and career high on beam (9.75), Roxanne Myers with a season and career high on bars, Izzie Plaza for a season and career high on floor (9.575), Sophie Schmitz for a season high on beam, and Lacey Wedge for a season and career high on floor (9.75). All of these lovely accomplishments led the Ladies to a season high of 189.150.
To continue our weekend of recognition, the Ladies past and present came together for brunch at the Symphony House to celebrate 60 years of Centenary Gymnastics. The Ladies want to give a special thank you to Jinaki for cooking us some delicious food on Saturday morning. The shrimp and grits were amazing! During our brunch, we gathered to view a video message from alum Kathy Johnson Clarke. Did you know that Chelsie Memmel’s mom was one of the four leading ladies of Centenary gymnastics? Centenary Gymnastics has a rich history, and we are grateful to have learned a little more during our 60th celebration. To round out our Saturday morning, the Ladies joined Coach Dawson on a tour of the football facilities. The reinstatement of our football team and new construction of facilities are all part of
Centenary’s Forward Campaign. Thank you, Coach Dawson, for taking time out of your day to share your teams vision board and mission with Centenary Gymnastics!
To close out our fun filled weekend, the Ladies held our Alumni and 60th celebration quad meet. We started the meet off by welcoming alumni onto the floor to join the present Centenary Ladies in a cheer “Everywhere We Go.” The Ladies started off the meet HOT with a season high vault score of 48.100. Emily McClung started off the vault rotation with her first lineup debut and a season high! I just want to brag and say Roxy and I had the best seats in the house watching our stellar vault shakers. Once again, the Ladies achieved a multitude of season and career highs during our quad meet. Shoutout to Clarie Flores for achieving a season and career high on bars (9.5), Amy Foret for a season high on vault (9.6), Kendall Huff for a season high on vault (9.725) and floor, Emma Lavelle for a season high on beam (9.65), Sophie Schmitz for season and career high on vault (9.625), Lacey Wedge for a season high on vault (9.675), and Olivia Williams for a season and career high on both bars and floor (9.55). Also, a special little shoutout to Brooke Murdock for making her career debut on bars posting a season and career high. I am so proud of the Ladies for all of our wonderful accomplishments this weekend and cannot wait to see what this upcoming weekend has in store.
Thank you to all alumni who joined us this weekend to remember Sylvia Keiter and celebrate 60 years of gymnastics!! Our next home meet is SENIOR NIGHT February 26th in the Dome, be there or be square.
To wrap up this week’s Gym Talk I would like to shine yet another light on Sylvia Keiter. Centenary Gymnastics has worked to put together a tribute page for Sylvia on MADD’s website (https://fundraising.madd.org/campaign/Slyvia-Keiter-). The Centenary Ladies strive to raise $1000 in honor of Sylvia. We ask that you donate in support of MADD’s mission: A FUTURE OF NO MORE VICTIMS.
This is Emma Lavelle signing off, make sure to tune in for next week’s Gym Talk.
