It's often a highlight of the summer Olympic Games - a team of flexible, coordinated and impossibly strong young gymnasts who put aside pressure and leap, flip and swing their way into history and our hearts.

But they gotta start somewhere - and that somewhere is often the local Y.

Last week, more than 2,000 gymnasts from 107 YMCA gymnastics teams around the country - including 30 from the Lakewood Family YMCA - converged on Savannah, Ga., for the annual YMCA National Gymnastics Championship and Invitational.

During three long days of competition, including a championship event Saturday, the Lakewood girls earned their fair share of hardware. Not only was the Level 8 team named overall winner, but the level 9-10 team also placed second overall in the championship division. Several gymnasts also returned home with individual trophies, including Level 8 Junior Division All Around Champion Hannah Hamelin, 15, and Level 8 Senior Division All Around Champion Jessica Hogue, 17, who recently graduated from Puyallup High School.

Hosted by the Islands branch of the Coastal YMCA of Georgia, the event featured four gyms running simultaneously in the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center on Hutchinson Island.  With thousands of gymnasts, their parents and volunteers on hand, it can best be described as organized chaos.

And yet, "it's the best meet of the year," said Hogue, who has been practicing gymnastics for 10 years, the last four in Lakewood. "I always look forward to it."

Senior Level 8 gymnast Sarah Crum, whose father, Lt. Col. William Crum, works at Madigan, agrees.

"It's so much fun," she said.

Junior Level 8 gymnast Sarah Burlingame, 15, a Steilacoom High School sophomore whose father is a Navy pilot stationed at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, came home with a neck full of hardware, including a win on floor.

"But winning team is the most important thing," she said.

That attitude permeates this tight-knit team.

"They're all enthusiastic and very passionate," said head coach Kevin Milliner. "They're not just competitors but really good teammates. It's a symbiotic relationship. The individual helps the team and the team helps the individual. It's a special group of kids and a really great team."

Next year's YMCA National Gymnastics Championship and Invitation will be held in Tampa, Fla.

The list of this year's meet results

HANNAH HAMLIN - NATIONAL ALL AROUND CHAMPION, JUNIOR AGE GROUP OF CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION!

JESSIE HOGUE - NATIONAL ALL AROUND CHAMPION, SENIOR AGE GROUP OF LEVEL 8 DIVISION!

CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TEAM (Level 9 & 10)
LAKEWOOD FAMILY YMCA -- 2nd Place

LEVEL 8 DIVISION TEAM
LAKEWOOD FAMILY YMCA -- NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

Championship Division Individual Results
Junior Division
Hannah Hamlin - National Champion
Vault 7th, Bars 3rd, Beam 3rd & Floor 2nd

Tierney Goaslind - 5th Place All Around
Vault 10th & Bars 6th

Keeley Kirkley - 6th Place All Around
Bars 2nd & Floor 7th

Lexi McKnight - 8th Place All Around
Vault 5th, Bars 10th & Floor 6th

Julia Salazar - 11th Place All Around
Vault 2nd & Bars 9th

Senior Division
Bria Hamlin - 3rd Place All Around
Vault 8th, Bars 5th, Beam 2nd & Floor 6th

Ellie Conzatti - 6th Place All Around
Vault 5th, Bars 4th & Floor 5th


Level 8 Division Individual Results (individual event scores/places pertain only to the prelim session our girls competed in)
Junior Division
Emily Beck - 3rd All Around
Vault 1st, Bars 1st, Beam 4th & Floor 2nd
Emily's prelim all around score of 38.05 was the second highest score of the entire competition - all levels!

Sarah Burlingame - 4th All Around
Vault 3rd, Bars 10th, Beam 2nd & Floor 1st

Tayler Johnston - 10th All Around
Vault 5th, Bars 4th, Beam 2nd & Floor 3rd

Cassidy McCloud
Vault 9th, Bars 10th, Beam 1st & Floor 6th

Alyssa Natsiopoulos
Bars 9th, Beam 6th & Floor 7th

Level 8 Senior Division
Jessie Hogue - National Champion
Vault 9th, Bars 1st, Beam 1st & Floor 6th

Sarah Thompson - 4th All Around
Vault 3rd, Beam 2nd & Floor 1st

Mia Glastetter - 7th All Around
Vault 1st, Bars 5th, Beam 2nd & Floor 3rd

Sarah Crum - 8th All Around
7th Bars & 6th Bars


Level 7
Senior Division
Daisy Malan - 1st Place All Around
Daisy's AA score of 37.85 was the highest level 7 all around score of the entire competition - BY FAR!
Vault 1st, Bars 1st, Beam 4th & Floor 1st

Junior Division
Brin Herbert - 7th All Around
Vault 1st, Bars 5th & Floor 1st

Level 6
Senior Division
Kelcie Doyle - 1st Place All Around
Kelcie's score of 37.175 was BY FAR the highest level 6 score of the entire competition.
Vaukt 2nd, Bars 1st, Beam 1st & Floor 1st

Junior Division
Emi Maya - 1st Place All Around
Bars 1st, Beam 2nd & Floor 2nd

Childrens Division
Lizzy McKnight - 2nd Place All Around
Vault 1st Place, Bars 1st, Beam 2nd & Floor 2nd
Lizzy ended up breaking her foot during her bar routine, finished the routine, still placed 1st on that event and then competed beam.  We did not know it was a break until after the competition.

Level 5
Junior Age Division
Amaya Evans - 1st Place All Around
Vault 1st, Bars 1st, Beam 1st & Floor 1st

Julie Burlingame - 3rd Place All Around
Vault 2nd, Bars 4th, Beam 9th & Floor 10th

Meagan Natsiopoulos
Floor 5th

Senior Division
Jaedyn Ross - 2nd Place All Around
Vault 3rd, Bars 3rd, Beam 8th & Floor 1st

Amy Rood - 3rd Place All Around
Vault 3rd, Bars 1st, Beam 5th & Floor 7th

Level 4
Senior Division
Alex Gauydacan - 2nd Place All Around
Vault 4th, Bars 2nd, Beam 3rd & Floor 4th

Allyson Cline
Floor 6th

Children's Division
Emma Harsha - 4th Place All around
Bars 1st, Beam 2nd & Floor 7th