Denali gymnasts make program history

WASILLA — The folks at Denali Gymnastics are having quite the spring.

Just about a month after a cheer team from the Wasilla-based gymnastics studio earned a bid to compete in the Cheer World Championships, three other Denali athletes — Brian Leonard, Blake Cullip and Jared Newman — have scored the chance to compete in the Junior Olympics National Championships, slated for May 6-11 at the Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek, Mich.

“This is a big deal,” Denali Gymnastics coach Ryan Childers said on Monday. “It’s the first time for the Valley.”

Childers said Anchorage-based gymnasts have qualified for this event in the past, but this will be the first time that athletes from Denali Gymnastics or the Mat-Su Valley get the opportunity to compete in the Junior Olympics National Championships.

Leonard, Cullip and Newman landed in the national championships thanks to their efforts in the regional competition, held last weekend in Beaverton, Ore.

All three athletes are from Wasilla and competed in the level 10 division. Leonard, 16, and Cullip, 14, qualified in the overall category, and will compete in all six specialties at the national championships. Newman, 13, qualified as an event specialist, and will compete in the floor exercise at

nationals.

Childers said he took 16 athletes to the event in Beaverton. Four of those were eligible to compete for spots in the national competition, and three of those four clinched spots at nationals.

The Denali athletes competed against peers from Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon in the three-day meet.

Childers said the Denali athletes practice about four hours per day, four or five days per week.

“Once they get to that level, they have to if they’re going to do it,” Childers said.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.