KINGMAN — Three Kingman area girls have recorded medal winning performances at the National AAU Junior Olympics in Houston, TX. Remi Kaganzi won a gold medal for her division’s all around performance, Isabel Terrazas scored a gold for her routine on the balance beam while Serenitee Pickard medaled in her four events. This is the first time ever three All Starz Academy trained competitors qualified for the Nationals.
The competition has skill and age level divisions. Each contestant is graded on their performance on the balance beam, vault, uneven bars, and a skill’s display on what is called the floor exercise which is part gymnastics and dance. The scores on each event are totaled and the “all around” champion is crowned with the highest cumulative marks.
Remi, on her way to be her division’s All Around Championship, qualified to be in the finals with a 9.575 gold medal performance on the beam. The eight year old followed that up with sixth place finishes on both the floor exercise and the vault. The 8th place finish on the bars, still lifted her into the competition for All Around gold which she won.
Isabel was a bronze medal winner in the All Around competition. She is 10 years old, and attends school at Mohave Accelerated Learning Center in Bullhead City. Isabel picked up an age category win with a balance beam gold on the strength of a 9.526. A 9.775 bronze on bars, a fourth on floor, and 8th on vault led the way to compete in the all around finals where she took a bronze medal.
Diminutive Serenitee, and the youngest of the group from Kingman, scored medals in each of her five events by capturing places from 4th to 8th with a beam’s 4th place topping the list.
The coach working most closely with the gold medal winners is Allison Ballard. At the local awards presentations in Kingman, Ballard commented on her pride in the accomplishments of each of the three national qualifiers.
“Each girl has a great work ethic. Remi stays pretty focused and is very detail oriented. Isabel really concentrates on improvement. She works hard on fine tuning her routines.”
Brandee Proffit owns the gym on Airway Avenue. She and her staff act as coaches as well. Interestingly, Proffit once trained in gymnastics at the facility which she later bought, renamed, and moved to its current location. The walls of the Academy are covered with trophies and banners received from event victories. The student list now shows attendees from as far away as Lake Havasu and Las Vegas.
