NCAA gymnasts among the upcoming Elevate The Stage at VBC in Huntsville
HUNTSVILLE – In conjunction with the Huntsville Sports Commission and the Birmingham-based Knight Eady event management group, the sixth annual Elevate The Stage Gymnastics event is set for March 6-8 at the Von Braun Center and will feature four of the top college gymnastics programs in the country along with over 1,200 youth gymnasts, many of which from North Alabama, all converging within the confines of the VBC as each will have the opportunity to raise awareness of the sport in a top-notch atmosphere.
The USAG sanctioned youth gymnastics meet will feature a podium competition as the podium is unique typically only seen at championships and the Olympics. Many of the youth gymnasts will have the rare opportunity to compete on podium alongside many of their NCAA idols as the event will feature college teams from Auburn, ranked No. 12 in the nation, No. 6 Georgia, No. 16 Clemson and 33rdranked Pittsburg for what is being labeled an “ACC vs. SEC Sunday.”
The Huntsville Gymnastics Center (HGC), and its Madison branch, the Madison Gymnastics Center, is the host club for the three-day event with youth action taking place both Friday and Saturday (March 6-7) from 8:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. with the collegiate athletes taking to the Podium Center in the arena of the VBC on Sunday, March 9 at 3:00 p.m.
The youth competition will feature levels 2-10, XG, XP, XB and X5 with three sites within the Von Braun Center being used. Those sites include the Arena, East Hall and Saturn Ballroom. The college conference showdown will feature Lily Smith of Georgia, the current No. 1 seed in the country in the always entertaining and popular floor exercise.
The HGC has 41 athletes participating including a dozen from Madison. The young gymnasts from Madison include Aralyn Neely, Emma Mitchell, Sophia Garcia, Haleigh Bartee, Avery Elliott, Sydney Sipe, Lee Marie Savage, May Chen, Savannah Barnard, Mary Hollis Deloney, Arianna Rosch, and Mackenzie Chivers.
Elevate The Stage capitalizes on the concept of an event usually exclusive to elite-level competitions such as the Olympics or the NCAA National Championships. The meets create a unique regular season competition for the collegiate athletes, as well as, allowing youth gymnasts to compete on the podium or same stage as the college athletes. For many of the young athletes, the event is once in a lifetime experience. For the collegiate gymnasts, the competition will lead them to possibly competing in the NCAA National Championships to be held April 16-18 inside the Dickies Arena in Ft. Worth, Texas.
The event will feature competition in All-Around, Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam and Floor Exercise.
