Gymnasts from Ultimate Flip Over the Make-A-Wish Classic

The 20th annual Make-A-Wish Classic, hosted by Ultimate Gymnastics of Gurnee, was held on the weekend of December 6th-December 8th at the Canlan Sportsplex in Barrington. The meet featured 1,000 athletes from over 30 gymnastics clubs.

Proceeds from this event are donated to Make-A-Wish Illinois, which uses the funds to help grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. Throughout the past 20 years, Ultimate Gymnastics has raised over $1,000,000 for the charity.

This year's meet took on a personal meaning as the gymnasts from Ultimate donned orange scrunchies and shirts to support Halie, one of their teammates recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The support for Halie and excitement from the meet translated into some incredible performances at all levels.

Ultimate's Level 3 athletes had a fantastic showing, earning many medals. Elodie Nichols scored her all time personal best in every event and in all around, which earned her a spot on the podium.

Individual placements for Level 3's are as follows:

Junior B

Peyton Bockwoldt: Beam (8th)

Skyla Florip: Beam (4th)

Tristelle Gozun: Vault (8th); Bars (5th); Floor (4th); All-Around (8th)

Piper Lerner: Vault (7th); Bars (6th); Beam (3rd); Floor (6th); All-Around (5th)

Elodie Nichols: Vault (6th); Bars (1st); Floor (5th); All-Around (3rd)

Junior C

Brooke Elfering: Beam (6th)

Raelynn Golden: Vault (8th); Bars (7th); Beam (8th); All-Around (8th)

Senior A

Amanda Hough: Bars (4th); Beam (3rd); Floor (5th); All-Around (5th)

Audrey Kos: Beam (5th)

Ultimate's Level 4 athletes delivered strong performances. Many of the gymnasts received personal best scores and all have qualified for the state meet in March. Lydia Fakhoury lived up to her "beam queen" status as she earned a 1st place finish on beam while Allison Beau captured 1st on bars. Level 4's hard work earned them a 3rd place team finish.

Individual placements for Level 4's are as follows:

Junior B

Allison Beau: Vault (4th); Bars (1st); Floor (7th); All-Around (4th)

Lydia Fakhoury: Vault (3rd); Bars (5th); Beam (1st); Floor (3rd); All-Around (3rd)

Tabitha Gamalski: Vault (6th); Bars (6th); Floor (5th); All-Around (6th)

Caitlin Lanners: Vault (5th); Bars (4th); Floor (4th); All-Around (5th)

Evelyn Perna: Beam (6th)

Junior C

Sophia Bott: Vault (6th); Beam (5th); Floor (6th); All-Around (8th)

Annika V.: Vault (2nd); Bars (2nd); Beam (4th); Floor (7th); All-Around (3rd)

Senior A

Caylah Sanchez: Bars (4th)

Senior B

Sienna Szechinski: Vault (3rd); Bars (6th); Beam (4th); Floor (3rd); All-Around (4th)

"Assistant Coach" Halie lead Ultimate's Level 5 athletes to deliver powerful performances. Maylana Rios captured a 1st place finish on Beam and a 2nd place finish in All Around while Karina Gamalski had an excellent showing on Bars, earning her a 2nd place finish.

Individual placements for Level 5's are as follows:

Child

Leah Arceo: Vault (6th)

Junior

Karina Gamalski: Vault (7th); Bars (2nd); All-Around (7th)

Malayna Rios: Vault (4th); Bars (3rd); Beam (1st); Floor (4th); All-Around (2nd)

Senior

Isabella Mazza: Vault (10th); Beam (10th)

Ultimate's Level 6 athletes delivered strong performances across the board, earning them 18 top-three finishes and a 3rd place team finish. Layla Kadera and Cammy Jensen shined on beam while Camryn Clark excelled on the floor exercise-all earned a top spot on the podium.

Individual placements for Level 6's are as follows:

Junior A

Camryn Clark: Vault (3rd); Beam (3rd); Floor (1st); All Around (6th)

Layla Kadera: Vault (5th); Bars (3rd); Beam (1st); Floor (3rd); All Around (2nd)

Allie Mietus: Bars (5th); Beam (4th); Floor (4th); All Around (4th)

Junior B

Eila Arkin: Bars (6th); Beam (4th); Floor (2nd); All Around (6th)

Cammy Jensen: Vault (2nd); Bars (6th); Beam (1st); All Around (4th)

Senior A

Hailey Hamann: Vault (2nd); Bars (3rd); Beam (2nd); Floor (2nd); All Around (2nd)

Ava Pasquesi: Vault (4th); Floor (3rd)

Orli Sweet: Vault (6th); Bars (4th); Floor (5th); All Around (4th)

Senior B

Olivia Stolzer: Vault (3rd); Floor (2nd)

Ultimate's Level 7 athletes impressed the judges with their magnificent performances, earning them a first place team finish. Lyla Drowne and Ava Fendel dominated the podium as they earned medals on every event and in the all around category.

Individual placements for Level 7's are as follows:

Junior A

Lyla Drowne: Vault (2nd); Bars (1st); Beam (7th); Floor (2nd); All-Around (3rd)

Ava Fendel: Vault (1st); Bars (7th); Beam (2nd); Floor (1st); All-Around (1st)

Junior B

Gaby Carvajal: Vault (4th); Beam (2nd); Floor (5th); All-Around (7th)

Caile Painter: Vault (3rd)

Senior A

Evy Haggerty: Vault (4th); Bars (2nd); Beam (1st); All-Around (3rd)

Hailey Krueger: Bars (5th); Beam (6th); Floor (5th); All-Around (5th)

Kenzie Liebau: Vault (6th); Beam (7th); Floor (3rd)

Ultimate's Level 8 athletes also had an extraordinary performance earning them a 1st place team finish. Livy Tran showed a strong performance earning a 1st place finish on Vault, Beam, and All Around while sister Rebecca Tran earned medals in every event and All Around. Elizabeth Butler also vaulted herself into a 1st place finish for vault.

Individual placements for Level 8's are as follows:

Junior

Alyssah Arends: Vault (6th); Beam (2nd); Floor (2nd); All Around (7th)

McKenna Cox: Vault (7th); Bars (2nd); Floor (4th); All Around (6th)

Livy Tran: Vault (1st); Beam (1st); Floor (5th); All Around (1st)

Nora Werner: Bars (4th); Beam (3rd); Floor (3rd); All Around (3rd)

Senior

Sarah Arends: Vault (5th); Floor (3rd)

Elizabeth Butler: Vault (1st); Bars (3rd); Floor (5th); All Around (2nd)

Rebecca Tran: Vault (2nd); Bars (7th); Beam (5th); Floor (4th); All Around (3rd)

Ultimate's Highest-level teams had incredible performances. Each of the athletes earned their spot on the podium in All Around and earned many additional top-three finishes in their individual events.

Individual placements for Levels 9 and 10 are as follows:

Level 9 Junior

Annika Chudy: Vault (1st); Bars (2nd); All-Around (3rd)

Level 9 Senior

Peri Arkin: Vault (2nd); Bars (4th); Beam (3rd); Floor (2nd); All-Around (3rd)

Level 10

Lyndsey Basara: Vault (1st); Bars (2nd); Beam (1st); Floor (1st); All Around (1st)