MOULTRIE — Meghan Merritt and Kambria Blakely each placed ninth in their age divisions to lead the Moultrie YMCA MGs to a satisfying third-place finish at the 2009 YMCA National Gymnastics competition held last week in Downington, Pa.

More than 1,700 gymnasts from 20 states competed in the annual event.

Both Blakely and Merritt were named YMCA All-Americans. Blakely got her second consecutive gold medal on vault and Merritt climbed to the second place on the award stand to collect her silver medal for floor.

The week started off on a positive note with senior Leah May receiving one of three $1,000 scholarships given by the YMCA of the USA to be used at the school of her choice.

More than 55 applications for the senior scholarships were sent in.

Excerpts were read from the essay May submitted with her nomination and her fine career was outlined in the presentation that was part of the opening ceremonies.

All those who had seen her win six YMCA national championships (floor twice, bars and vault) including two all-around gold medals were disappointed to hear during the presentation that she would not be able to perform at this year's meet.

May was the first Moultrie gymnast to receive one of these scholarships.

The level 8 team was the first to compete for the MGs.

All event medals are given during the level 8 sessions.

All-around placements are determined when the top 25 in each age division from all sessions competed at all-around finals.

“Our level 8 team included four girls who competed at level 7 until our home meet in May,” said Coach Bob Swadel. “They wanted to move up for nationals and helped us place 10th. We would not have had the four scores on each event needed for team score without them.”

Aubrea Callanta led the team with a 34.475 all-around.

Callanta placed fifth on vault (8.55), third on bars (8.725), fourth on beam (8.45), and seventh on floor (8.75). Callanta qualified for the level 8 all-around finals.

“She led our level 7 team in scoring all year and made the top 25 out of over 100 in her age group at this meet,” Swadel said. “Aubrea has beautiful lines and presentation. She has no weak event.”

Callanta performed even better in her second day of competition raising her all-around to a 35.225 and placing 22nd overall.

Hayley Trouille placed first on floor (9.20), fourth on bars (8.725), and seventh on beam (8.325).

Trouille scored a 34.35 all-around.

“Hayley has been fighting a back injury for the past few months now,” said Coach Elizabeth Harrington. “She performed well in spite of the pain she was in and helped the team to their strong 10th place finish.”

Betsy Booth scored a 33.525 all-around and had the team’s highest vault and beam score.

Booth placed fourth on vault (8.60) and third on beam (8.65), which were both personal bests.

Jordan Bright, the team’s only level 8 in the senior division, placed 13th on bars (8.05) and second on floor with her highest floor score (9.40).

Susannah Harvell had a personal best vault score of 8.50 (8th) and also on bars with an 8.00.

Sammie Phillips received a 7.875 on bars, a personal best for her. Phillip’ s strong floor score of 8.70 bumped the team’s score up and allowed it to finish in the top 10.

Kaydee Phillips competed as the only level 7 gymnast for the MGs in her first YMCA Nationals.

She was only .15 away from placing on vault, where she scored an 8.80, her highest score of the meet.

One might think that gymnastics is a sport just about accuracy and consistency.

For the Championship Division at Y Nationals it is also an endurance contest.

It has the most rigorous schedule of any group in the competition. A warm-up day is followed by two days of all-around and team competition.

If your scores are in the top 10 on any of the four events, you compete again in the event finals on the fourth consecutive day.

Only the NCAA National Championships (Division I schools) have such a demanding schedule. The indoor sports complex outside Philadelphia was not air-conditioned and temperatures hovered around 90 degrees, which added another dimension to the fatigue factor.

In her first year competing as a level 9 and in the Championship Division, 13-year-old Meghan Merritt led the team in scoring.

Merritt started out the many days of competition by hitting all four events to score an all-around of a 35.225.

“Meghan had a solid first day,” Harrington said. “Her floor routine (9.30) was gorgeous and she nailed her bar routine (8.45) that she was competing for the first time.

Merritt increased her beam and floor score in the second day of competition qualifying her to finals on those events.

"Meghan was very nervous, but she held it together all week,” Swadel said. “Except for a break in her bar routine on the second day, she really had a great meet. She topped it off with fine floor and beam routines in finals.

Those performances all week placed Merritt second on floor and fourth on beam.

Kambria Blakely added another vault title to her list of accomplishments.

Blakely now holds the junior vault title and the senior vault title.

If she had been just a little bit younger, she and teammate Rachel Dampier would have won both the junior and senior national championships on vault. Blakely and Leah May had done just that at the 2008 nationals.

Blakely's 9.45 edged out Dampier’s 9.40 on the event finals, giving her the title and Dampier the silver medal.

Their vault scores over the three days were the highest of the entire meet.

“These two athletes finishing one-two on vault and both making floor finals was remarkable,” Swadel said. “Rachel had ankle surgery after last nationals and Kambria had her knee scoped earlier in the year. She missed all but two meets.”

Blakely also placed seventh on floor and Dampier placed eighth on floor in finals.

“This was the first year Rachel qualified to event finals,” Harrington said. “A nagging ankle injury last year kept her out of competing in the final day. She went hard this year and did everything she could to make her routines the best they could be.

“She rearranged her tumbling passes for finals to shoot for a higher start value. The gutsy gamble paid off and she moved up a couple of places. It was a great way for her to finish off her career.”

Dampier finished 13th in the all-around which was two spots higher than her finish last year.

Heather Scites and Krysta Michael also finished solid careers on a positive note. Both girls made finals for the second year in a row.

Scites competed on bars, placing 10th and also placed 17th in the all-around competition.

“Heather has been a strong bar worker all season,” Harrington said. “She has struggled throughout the year with a nagging ankle injury but pushed through to have a great senior season and national competition.”

Michael's solid beam performance during the second day of competition allowed her to qualify for finals on that event. A clean routine during finals gave her what she needed to move up a few places to eighth.

“Krysta has a gorgeous beam routine,” Harrington said. “She is clean and solid in all her moves. The sharpness of her choreography makes it look like she is performing on the floor.”

Brooke Robinson helped the team achieve its high finish by having two great vault scores (8.675 and 8.825), a strong bar routine (8.65) on the first day of competition and a solid floor performance (8.60) during the second day of competition.

“Brooke has been a strong vaulter for the team all season,” said Coach Allen Harden. “She has been struggling on bars all season but came to the meet confident and nailed it during the first day of competition.”

“We had an MG record four seniors on this team (Dampier, May, Michael, Scites),” Swadel said. “Leah was missed greatly all year, but this group has put together a pretty fine record.

“They have won individual state, regional and national medals, a High School State Championship, numerous invitational meets across the southeast and finished second and third at the last two YMCA National Championships. These girls have been a strong part of this team and will be greatly missed next year.”

The team had quite a bit of inspiration during the week with Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller, Raj Bashavar and Courtney Kupets there to give words of encouragement throughout the competitions and opening ceremonies.

Miller spoke to the gymnasts about working hard and reaching for their goals during the opening ceremonies celebration.

Bashavar and UGA gymnast Kupets were the masters of ceremonies for the final day of competition.

“What an honor for our girls to have their medals handed to them by such phenomenal gymnasts as Raj and Courtney,” Coach Pat Murphy-Meier said. “The girls made a special point during some down time to make sure Courtney knew what huge Gym Dog fans we are.”

The team is looking forward to next year’s competition being held in San Diego, Calif.