Morgan Hill gymnasts continue to reach for the gold
Oakland – The largest men’s/boys’ gymnastics invitational in the United States took place this past weekend at the Oakland Convention Center in Oakland, California.
The Aquafina Pacific Coast Classic featured the top NCAA Men’s programs from Stanford, Cal Berkeley, Michigan, Iowa, Temple, Univ. of Minnesota and the # 1 team in the USA, the University of Oklahoma.
With over 700 gymnasts from 80+ teams, Morgan Hill’s very own MHG Boys Program looked to validate their performance from a week ago when they captured both the level 4 and level 5 team gold medals at the prestigious Gold Rush Classic in San Francisco.
In spectacular fashion, the MH Boys proved that San Francisco wasn’t a fluke.
Leading the way for Morgan Hill were Zachary Fedalizo, Dante Gallardo, Domenic Zanotto, and Wesley Guild.
Fedalizo, who is starting to earn national recognition with his recent performances, won gold medals (boys level 7) in three events; Rings, Pommel and High Bar.
Gallardo won gold (boys level 4) in two events for vault and floor.
Quite impressively, Fedalizo and Gallardo also won gold medals in the ‘best all around’ titles for level 7 and 4 respectively.
Zanotto, with only one year of competitive gymnastics experience, landed the meet’s most impressive floor routine with an eye popping score of 9.85 (number one floor routine score out of 793 gymnasts). With his performance, Zanotto won his second gold medal in as many weeks.
Guild, the eventual silver medalist in the boys level 5 ‘all around’ competition, had an equally spectacular gold medal performance on rings. Guild’s score of 9.85 was also the highest out of 793 gymnasts.
Other solid performers were KyVon Hughes who finished 4th overall in the boys level 4, Caleb Wiesenberger who finished 5th overall in the boys level 5, and Bryan Miner who finished 2nd overall in the boys 8 year old/level 4 division.
With contributions from Kealan Baughman, William Clement, Tristin Baughman, and Alec O’Grady, the MH Boys also captured the team gold medal for boys level 5 (ages 7-9) and the silver medal for boys level 4.
The nationally recognized MH Boys now turn their collective attention to the upcoming California State Finals scheduled for Visalia, March 11th for level 4, Santa Cruz, March 18 and 19 for level 5 and the Regional meet for level 7 in San Mateo.
Morgan Hill Girls
Gymnasts
Two Morgan Hill gymnasts, Alexandra Evans and Amanda Schlaefer, earned first place trophies in Couer d’Alene Idaho this past week. February 24-26 gymnasts from 12 states and 48 teams competed at the Great West Gym Fest gymnastics competition.
Alexandra Evans, 15, and Amanda Schlaefer, 12, both Level 9 gymnasts, each took first place All-Around for their high scores in their age groups. Their gym, Almaden Valley Gymnastics Club, received the trophy for first place team. Evans came in first place on vault with 9.1, beam with 9.25 and floor with 9.675, and fourth on beam with 8.85, with the highest All-Around score of 36.875. Schlaefer came in first place on vault with a 9.075, bars with a 9.4, beam with a 9.2, and fourth place on floor with a score of 8.65 for a top All-Around score of 36.325.
The awards at the meet in Couer d”Alene were handed out by Gold Medal Olympians Jaycie Phelps and Amanda Borden.
Next for the girls will be the Level 9 State Meet in Oroville on March 12.
