Friday, January 19, 2024

Ella's First Gymnastics Meet at the Freedom Invitational

After missing her first gymnastics meet of the season in Bellevue due to being in Atlanta for JTF, Ella competed in her first meet today in Bremerton called the Freedom Invitational.  Since this meet was over an hour away and she had to be there at 7:45 in the morning for an 8 o'clock start time, I had to wake her up at 5:50.  But she bounced right out of bed and quickly got ready before we headed out into the dark and rainy morning.  Just like last year, Ella was so excited to compete in her first meet.  She did a great job, especially after missing so many practices the last two weeks due to Matilda commitments.  Ella received a 9.25 on bars which was a great start to the meet.  However, she accidentally did a Level 2 dismount off of the beam.  As a result, she immediately jumped back up on the beam and finished with a lovely, Level 3 dismount.  Unfortunately, the judges severely penalized her and gave her a 8.0 which is the lowest score of her gymnastics career.  Luckily, Ella did not let this affect her and went on to get a 9.1 on floor and a 9.05 on vault.  Since her scores were high enough in three of her four events, Ella still received four out of five possible medals during the ceremony afterwards.  She came in 1st in both bars and floor and third in vault, and got 2nd place overall in her Junior A age group.  It was quite the sight to see this girl walking away from the meet with all of these medals hanging around her neck.  Way to go, Ella!  I can't wait to cheer you on for your five remaining meets this season!


Ella posing with two of her gymnastics buddies before the meet began.


Ella starting her bar routine.


Ella doing a cast.


The awesome picture I was able to take of Ella as she flew into the air on her dismount.


Ella landing her leap on the beam.


Ella kicking into her dismount.


Ella in her dismount.


Ella warming up on the floor with her other teammates before performing her routine for the judges.


Ella doing her split sequence warm up.


An action shot of Ella going into her back handspring.


Ella running up to the springboard.


Ella finishing her vault.


Ella landing her vault routine.


Ella receiving her 1st place medal for her bar routine in the ceremony.


Ella standing on top of the first place block ready to salute.


Ella saluting with the rest of the gymnasts.


Ella saluting again after getting the 2nd place overall medal for her age group.


Ella and her good friend, Ava, posing on the blocks after the medal ceremony was over!

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