Sports
Video Highlights: Olympia Sends 11 Athletes to Gymnastic Nationals
Shelby Township gymnastic academy makes habit out of vaulting area athletes to the national stage.
Over the first two weekends in May, Olympia Gymnastics Academy will send 11 athletes to compete in the level 9 and level 10 nationals in Boston and Long Beach, CA, respectively. The athletes all qualified for nationals after finishing in the top six in their five-state region earlier this year.
Olympia will send nine female and two male gymnasts to the nationals between the ages of 11 and 19 years old.
Last year, Alyssa Shermetaro gained national recognition for the studio, after becoming the first Olympia athlete to compete in the Visa National Championships. According to Olympia owner Lori Koch, recovery from an injury prevented Shermetaro from joining her teammates at nationals this year.
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One of the athletes competing in nationals this year, Taylor Penzien, recently accepted a scholarship to compete at Southeast Missouri State University this fall. Megan Bastuba is likely to compete at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Olympia was founded in 1995 by Koch and her husband and trains gymnasts of all levels. Athletes, who are at competition level, train for more than 25 hours per week.
