WORD
FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WELCOME
GHSA GYMNASTICS PRELIMS & STATE FANS
Welcome to the 2023 GHSA Gymnastics State Championships! I know you are ready for the high energy performances that these athletes have perfected throughout the year to bring to these championships.
This year’s event is sure to be an exciting one! Special thanks to GHSA Associate Director Penny Mitchell for her hard work in making these championships the best ever. I want to thank the many volunteers who make this event possible and run smoothly. We extend our special appreciation to the Buford Arena for being our host. Finally, we thank our sponsors and hope you will support them and our corporate sponsors whenever possible.
Thank you for supporting GHSA Gymnastics and please join me in offering our best wishes for all of our competitors.
Dr. Robin Hines Executive Director
GHSA GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
QUALIFYING TEAM RANKINGS
2023 GHSA GYMNASTICS
2 | WWW.GHSA.NET
CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2023 Georgia High School Association Gymnastics Guide is published by Score Media, a division of Score Atlanta, in conjunction with the GHSA. The guide was designed by Laura Grieve, and edited by Craig Sager II, Seth Ellerbee and Graham David. The information throughout this guide is provided by the GHSA. For more information on Score Media, go to Scoreatl.com or call 404-256-1572.
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NATIONAL SIGNING DAY PRELIMINARY DATE GYM OPENS GENERAL SPECTATOR ENTRANCE WARM-UP/ SESSION SCHEDULE FOR CHECK-IN STRETCH OPENS: GOFAN ONLY COMPETITION BEGINS ENDS (EST.) Session 1: 5A-A Teams & Individuals Wednesday, April 19 11:30 a.m. 12:10 - 12:55 p.m. 12:30 p.m. 1 p.m. 3:30 p.m. Session 2: 7A-6A Teams & Individuals Wednesday, April 19 4 p.m. 4:40 - 5:25 p.m. 5 p.m. 5:30 p.m. 8 p.m. STATE MEET DATE GYM OPENS GENERAL STRETCH/ SPECTATOR ENTRANCE WARM-UP/ SESSION SCHEDULE FOR CHECK-IN BAR SETTINGS OPENS: GOFAN ONLY COMPETITION BEGINS ENDS (EST.) Teams & Individuals Friday, April 21 3:30 p.m. 4:10 - 4:55 p.m. 4:30 p.m. 5 p.m. 7:30 p.m.
5A-A RANK 7A-6A North Oconee 1 Buford Oconee County 2 North Forsyth Bremen 3 Carrollton Villa Rica 4 Forsyth Central Northgate 5 Walton Ola 6 West Forsyth Westminster 7 Newnan Cambridge 8 Camden County
DYNASTIES AND RETURNING STATE CHAMPS PREP FOR FINALS
The2023 GHSA Gymnastics State Championships will be held at the Buford Arena for the third-straight year and will crown the state’s next round of champions following a terrific season of meets. Prelims will occur on Wednesday at Buford before champions are crowned on Friday, April 21. In 2019, the sport introduced a separate Class 6A-7A and Class A-5A division for the first time and crowned two separate team champions. The West Forsyth Wolverines captured the Class 6A-7A title—which gave the program its third-straight team championship and North Oconee won the Class A-5A state crown. The following season in 2021 after the 2020 season was called off saw Newnan take the Class 6A-7A state title with a 114.680 score. Buford came up short with a second-place finish and would return to the top the following year. North Oconee defended its first title with a 113.746 championship performance in Class A-5A to cap the 2021 season. Then, the Titans extended their dynasty again in 2022 with the program’s third-straight championship, while Buford took the Class 6A-7A field to capture its fourth alltime state title and first since 2016.
This week will see the best of the best as qualifiers had to meet the following standards—an All-Around score of 34.0 or better in regular season meets, an individual score of 8.50 or better on the Beam and Bars and a 9.0 or better on Vault and Floor in three regular-season meets.
STACKED CHAMPIONSHIP SCENE
The Wolves will once again be led by Marissa Ashton—who
took first place in the Vault and the All-Around (38.975) title in 2022. Ashton also picked up a second place finish in the Beam and fourth place in the Floor. The Class of 2023 senior is a Level 10 gymnast and national qualifier and will look to repeat and fuel another Buford title run with a strong supporting cast that shares championship experience. Buford dominated the Floor with Bellarae Newby earning a second-place finish and Lily Black tallying a third-place finish and both standouts return. North Oconee won last year’s team title
BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM
runner-up and third-place finish in every event behind Crow. Chloe McDonald earned third in the All-Around (37.600), Bars (92.50), Floor (9.575) and Vault (9.750) and will be returning the bulk of the Titans’ experience.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
North Oconee has an opportunity to become the first school since Roswell (2000-03) to win four-straight titles and enters the prelims at the top of the state-wide Class A-5A rankings with a 109.900 score. Oconee County (108.967) and last year’s state runner-up Bremen (106.133) are currently at No. 2 and No. 3 in the rankings and West Forsyth is also highlyranked after placing third at last year’s state meet.
with 113.800 points—as Pike County’s Maelyn Crow dominated the field. Crow has since graduated and was named the USA Today High School Gymnast of the Year. She scored perfect 10.0’s in the Beam, Floor and Vault and her 9.700 Bars routine also earned a top finish to fuel her 39.700 AllAround title. North Oconee used its depth and previous championship experience to out-pace the field and earned a
In Class 6A-7A, defending state champion Buford has a state-best 112.517 score at the top of the poll. The rest of the Class 6A-7A rankings are extremely tight with North Forsyth (109.333) at No. 2, Carrollton (109.250) at No. 3 and Forsyth Central (108.717) rounding out the top 5 with Walton (108.117). Carrollton finished runner-up to Buford last year and is returning Kalani Witherspoon—who took first place in the Floor last year (9.90) and third in the Beam (9.700). Witherspoon earned the top finish in the Floor, however, Buford took the second, third and fourth place to fuel their team title. Forsyth Central’s Katie Andrews is also back after taking third place in the All-Around, and second in the Vault (9.600).
Friday’s action will begin with warm-ups at 5 p.m. and champions are expected to be crowned around 7:30 p.m.
APRIL 19 - 21, 2023 WWW.GHSA.NET | 3
2023 GHSA GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIP 4 | WWW.GHSA.NET Altama h a E MC • A micalola E MC • Ca r r oll EMC • Ce n t r al Geo rgia EMC • Coastal E lect r ic Coope r ativ e Colq u itt E MC • Co w eta-Fayette EMC • Di v erse Powe r • Excelsio r EMC • Fli n t Ene rgies • Grad y E M C G r ey S to n e P o w er • Haber sh a m E MC • Ha r t EMC • Ir w in EMC • Jac k so n E MC • J e f fe r son Ene rg y Georgia’s locally owned and operated Electric Membership Cooperatives are proud to sponsor the Georgia High School Association georgiaemc.com Middle Geo rgia EMC • Mitchell E MC • Oc mu lgee E MC • Oco n ee E MC • O kefe n o k e REM C Pla n ters E MC • Ra y le EMC • S las h P ine EMC • Snappi n g S h oals E MC • Southe r n Ri v e rs E ne rg y S u m ter E MC • T h r ee Notc h E MC • Upson EMC • Washi n gton EM C Little Ocmulgee EMC • We offer solutions to make your job easier - giving you more time to make an impact. While we’re the best at equipping athletes, you’re the best at equipping lives... and that’s the real final score. Apparel • Uniforms • Equipment • Weight Room • Fundraising BSNSPORTS.com EVERY MINUTE WE SAVE YOU CAN BE SPENT CHANGING LIVES PROUD PARTNER OF GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY. VISIT GOFAN.CO AND SEARCH FOR YOUR SCHOOL. BE THERE WITH THE OFFICIAL DIGITAL TICKETING PARTNER OF THE GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
7A-6A
BUFORD
Abby Hamilton
Addyson Doan
Alyson Gower
Amanda Allen
Bella Rae Newby
Hailey Aycock
Jilliian Hynds
Johanna Sasser
Kendall Rockwell
Lily Black
Marissa Ashton
Vidya Bharadwha COACH
Amanda Allen
CAMDEN COUNTY
Addison Spencer
Alexis Staklinski
Jamie Walker
Jennifer Tate
Katie Tate
Lillie Barnes
Sarah Garrett
COACH
Catherine Cook
CARROLLTON
PAST GHSA GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONS
2023 GHSA GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIP 6 | WWW.GHSA.NET
BOYS GIRLS
Druid Hills
(not held)
held)
1964 Druid Hills 1965 Druid Hills 1966 Gordon 1967 Gordon 1968 Walker 1969 Sequoyah Tucker 1970 Sequoyah Tucker 1971 Sequoyah Lakeside 1972 Sequoyah Lakeside 1973 Lakeside Lakeside 1974 Briarcliff Lakeside 1975 Peachtree Lakeside 1976 Peachtree Lakeside 1977 Briarcliff Lakeside 1978 Briarcliff Lakeside 1979 Briarcliff Lakeside 1980 (not held) Westminster 1981 (not held) Redan 1982 (not held) Tucker 1983
held) Tucker 1984
held) Tucker 1985 (not held) Redan 1986 (not
Redan 1987 Discontinued Redan 1988 Redan 1989 Tucker 1990 Milton YEAR GIRLS 1991 Milton 1992 Heritage, Conyers 1993 Pace Academy 1994 Heritage, Conyers 1995 Heritage, Conyers 1996 Heritage, Conyers 1997 Roswell 1998 Milton 1999 Milton 2000 Roswell 2001 Roswell 2002 Roswell 2003 Roswell 2004 Oconee County 2005 Roswell 2006 Colquitt County 2007 Roswell 2008 Newnan 2009 Providence Christian 2010 Lassiter 2011 Tift County 2012 Tift County 2013 Lambert 2014 Buford 2015 Buford 2016 Buford 2017 West Forsyth 2018 West Forsyth 6A-7A A-5A 2019 West Forsyth North Oconee 2020 (not held) (not held) 2021 Newnan North Oconee 2022 Buford North Oconee
YEAR
1956
1957
1958 (not
1959 (not held) 1960 (not held) 1961 (not held) 1962 (not held) 1963 (not held)
(not
(not
held)
