Avalanche gymnasts bring home team trophies and medals

POCATELLO — Close to 40 gymnasts from Avalanche Gymnastics Academy in Idaho Falls brought home the hardware along with some hard fought team awards following last weekends annual Rumble in the Jungle competition in Pocatello.

The Level 7 and 9 teams captured the first place team award in a crowded field that included teams and individual gymnasts from across the mountain west.

Their success was led in large part to the athleticism of Natalie Otte, taking first place individual medals on beam, second on floor and the bronze on bars, in addition to being the all-around champion as the competition’s Level 7 highest score winner across all age groups.

Addie Traue took first on the floor while teammate Lillie Wade took first on beam along with the silver on both vault and in the all-around.

Megan Jacobson also brought home a silver on bars. Macy Russell pulled out an impressive meet with a third place all-around that was made possible by a third place individual medal on floor, second on vault and first place finish on bars.

”This kind of success comes from hours of hard work and determination. That paid off this weekend,” Avalanche Head Coach Cayla Beutler said. “Days, weeks, and months in the gym, grinding out these routines and fine tuning their skills. That’s how we get it done.”

More gymnasts got it done at Rumble, including a Level 6 team composed of just three girls. Bella Haderlie took the all-around with a season high score of 37.875 that included a first place on vault (9.500) and bars (9.450).

She was followed close behind by Hazel Hewit with a 37.075 and second place all-around finish, taking individual honors on both beam and floor.

Alyssa Hayes captured a season best 36.400 and fourth place all-around with a second place on vault.

Because team titles require at least three athletes, it allows bigger teams to be more competitive for team trophies. The Mighty Three from Avalanche were behind another local team going into the final rotation, but a stellar set of floor routines by Hewit (9.675), Haderlie (9.650), and Hayes (9.325) had them finishing 1-2-3 for floor medals and taking the team trophy by just 1/10th of a point in combined scores on all four events.

”What’s even more impressive than the fact that these girls pulled off a nearly impossible comeback for first place is that they all come from different schools,” said Beutler, adding that one goes to Hillcrest, another is at Idaho Falls High School and the third in Rigby. “At Avalanche they have bonded as friends and together they are teammates that can accomplish amazing things.”

The Level 2 gymnasts from Avalanche are the youngest group. A power outage for several hours had the six gymnasts compete in partial darkness. Adelaide took second in the all-around and Maylani took the bronze. Sophie took home the first place medal on vault.

The Level 3 team not only brought home the team third place award, but also 24 medals from 12 Avalanche athletes.

Avalanche competes next at the Yellowstone Challenge in Rexburg later this month before traveling to Arizona next month.