Area gymnasts look forward to future at University of Iowa

For Todd Beyer II, Lexy Wadsworth and Aaliyah O'Connell, gymnastics has opened up new opportunities in college.

All three area gymnasts will continue their sport in college - Beyer and Wadsworth as members of the University of Iowa teams and O'Connell as a coach.

Years of work - coupled with times of recovery - enabled Beyer to reach new heights this past season. After surgery on his elbow and knee at age 13, Beyer. with his parents' blessing, decided to 'retire” since his body was not 'maintaining as it should have.”

After a few years off, at 17, Beyer returned to competition.

'I started off slow,” Beyer said. 'I got back in the gym. When I decided to compete again, I started training five to six times a week.”

Beyer worked his way to the national championships this year, placing third in the all around in Level 10. He will compete on Iowa's gymnastics team this fall, ending 18 years of training under his father.

'I've always been Dad, No. 1, and Coach, No. 2,” Beyer's dad and Cedar Rapids Association of Gymnastics coach Todd Beyer I said. 'It was most important to be Dad first. I'm going to be Dad forever now.”

Injury, and recovery, is a common story in gymnastics. Wadsworth had numerous broken bones from ankles to elbows. Her junior year of high school, she tore her meniscus, putting her training on hold.

'Without my teammates, who are like my sisters, it would have made coming back a lot harder,” said Wadsworth, who has been training since she was about 3.

Wadsworth competed at Level 9 this past season and placed first on the beam and second in the floor exercise routine at state.

'It's a big time commitment,” she said of competing at Iowa as a walk-on. 'But I love to do it. It's not something that a normal person can do.”

O'Connell has decided to take a different path, but will join Beyer and Wadsworth at Iowa. She looks forward to remaining a coach at her gym, the Iowa Gym-Nest in Coralville, as she rests herself after years of practice and competition.

'I admire Aaliyah's dedication to her goals,” said Paige Roth, O'Connell's coach. 'When she sets a goal for herself she works until she accomplishes that goal.”

One goal for the Iowa City West graduate has been to overcome the bars, an event she struggled with most of her career. She accomplished that his past season, placing first in the bars at regionals and fourth at nationals. She also placed first place in the all-around, regionals and Western Nationals.