GREAT FALLS – After competing at the state competition in March, six young female gymnasts from the Great Falls Gymnastics Academy (GFFA) qualified and are preparing for the regional competition.
To qualify for regionals, each gymnast must have a total score of at least 34.5 in all four events, which include the bounce beam, flood exercise, uneven bars and vault. The maximum amount of points for each event is 10.
The gymnasts who qualified for gold are Shelby MacDonald, Mary Seidlitz, Alli MacDonald, Sevyn Hocevar, Tayah Osier and Signe Hanson.
Fort Benton Junior Shelby MacDonald, who has done gymnastics off and on since she was one, said the girls practice four days a week to prepare for the competition.
Shelby said, “It’s really exciting because this is such a crazy opportunity that I never thought that I’d be able to have. Everybody says that gymnastics is an easy sport but it’s not at all, nobody knows the amount of hard work and dedication and patience you need.”
Shelby added her favorite event is beam and her idol is Shawn Johnson.
Great Falls 6th Grader Sevyn Hocevar is excited to go to her first competition out of state. “I have a countdown on the back of all my notebooks at school,” she said.
The regional competition will be held in Washington on April 20th and 21st.
Besides Montana, the other states attending include Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
According to the GFFA, there are only 13 girls representing Montana in the competition.
Reporting by Kasey Herman for MTN News
