Local gymnasts shine at Jingle Bell meet

SCHARES DOMINATES CRAG TOURNAMENT

HIAWATHA - Lily Schares of the host Cedar Rapids Association of Gymnastics won five events at the Jingle Bell meet last weekend.

Schares, in Level 3, won the vault, bars, beam, floor exercise and all around. Teammate Riley Smith won four events in Level 5 (vault, beam, floor and all around) and Hailey Hakes (vault, beam, all around) and Ava Andrews (vault, floor, all around) in Level 4 and Alyssa McAleer (bars, floor, all around) in Level 5 were triple winners. Sidney Davidson (vault, floor) won a pair of events in Level 4.

Other CRAG winners were Addison Appelhans (vault) in Level 3; Natalie Freeman (all around), Emma Kelsey (floor) and Grace Walker (beam) in Level 4; and Jenna Carney (bars) in Level 5.

Placewinners were Bethany Young, Kyle Henry, Sophia Liu, Lanie Wood, Gracie Drury and Kennedy Ward in Level 3; Maanasa Chinnakonda. Allison Hayes and Autumn Poston in Level 4; and Caitlin Conner in Level 5.

TWISTERS SHINE IN JINGLE BELL

HIAWATHA - Alyssa Niemeier and Peyton Krotz of Twisters Gymnastics both won three events in Level 3 at CRAG's Jingle Bell meet last weekend.

Niemeier won the vault, bars and all around and Krotz captured the bars, beam and all around. Kylie Link won the beam and floor exercise.

Other Twisters winners in Level 3 were Hallie Ruby and Ava VanBerkum. Sydney Cira-Debben, Shandin Gilbert, Molly Icenbice and Addison Jun all finished in the top three.

In Level 4, Victoria Barbieri won two events (vault, floor) and Lacey Neighbor (bars), Elizabeth Tanner (bars), Corrin Williams (beam), Reese Miller (bars) and Amera Nakuritmana (bars) also captured titles. Twisters placewinners in Leve 5 were Reese Wilson, Sophia Barbieri, Elyssa MacCormick and Serena Rupert.

HIAWATHA'S MANNING DOMINATES SENIOR SHOT

John Manning of Hiawatha had another golden summer, capturing shot put events in all five events he entered and setting records in two.

Competing in the 75-79 age bracket, Manning won titles at the Quad Cities Senior Olympics, Iowa Senior Games, USATF Masters, Iowa Games and Minnesota Senior Games. He set the Iowa resident record with a toss of 36 feet, 6 1/2 inches at the Iowa Senior Games and bettered his own record at the Quad Cities event with a toss of 37-4 1/2.

Manning, who ranked fifth in the nation in 2013, will compete in the 2015 National Senior Games in St. Paul, Minn., in July.