The Silverthorne Storm gymnastics team has reached its 2023 competition season, and local gymnasts have been working hard to qualify to state as things get underway.

For those who may not be familiar, the Silverthorne Storm is a youth gymnastics team that is hosted out of the Silverthorne Recreation Center. Without a middle school or high school gymnastics program in the county, Silverthorne Storm allows student athletes to explore the sport while competing at a high level.

The Silverthorne Storm is made up of local Summit County middle school and elementary school students, and the team competes in the Colorado Association of Recreation Athletics gymnastics meets from May through July. 

“The mission of the Storm is to provide children with the ability to participate in gymnastics at a higher level than classes,” head coach Ben Way said. “Participation in gymnastics helps with so many things — from body awareness, strength, focus, flexibility, self-confidence and more. These are all things that will help them throughout their lives. We want to provide the space for those who want to be more involved with the sport and take it to another level by competing at a recreational level.”

During the competition season, Way — who has coached at the Silverthorne Recreation Center for 25 years — works with the team to perfect its members’ skills they have already learned. But during the fall and winter, the team focuses on learning new skills to foster progression.

On Saturday, May 20, the Silverthorne Storm began its competition season by competing in the Foothills Flairs gymnastics meet in Littleton. Though it was the team’s first competition of the season, the Storm put several athletes on the podium.

The Storm competed at the optional, Compulsory 3 and Compulsory 4 levels, and athletes were placed into age divisions. The athletes competed in the all-around competition, which requires them to perform on the vault, bars, beam and floor. 

Out of the younger division, the Silverthorne Storm put three athletes on the award podium. Avery Dye led the team in the youngest age division. She placed first overall in the Compulsory 4 all-around competition, and Fiona Pennicott placed third.

In the youngest age division for the Compulsory 3 competition, Brooklyn Beckermann placed second overall in all-around. 

Following the win from Dye, Scout Bolan earned a gold medal of her own by winning in the middle age division for the Compulsory 3 all-around competition.

In the optional division, Sarah Bresnahan had a strong all-around routine. Her bars and beam scores carried her to a first-place finish in the oldest age division. 

Bresnahan scored 7.4 on the bars and 6.1 on the beam, which was enough for her to place first in both event categories. Bresnahan also scored high in the vault and floor, which led to a well-rounded total score of 28.4. 

To round out the competition, three Silverthorne Storm athletes competed in the oldest age division for Compulsory 3 and Compulsory 4.

Danika Barth took second in the all-around Compulsory 3 competition, and Mia Norden placed first overall in the Compulsory 4 all-around competition. 

Beyond the team placing highly at its first meet of the season, the Storm was able to qualify the majority of the team to the state gymnastics meet, which will take place in July.

“I would say it was a successful first meet,” Way said. “We qualified 22 out of 26 girls for the state meet  with eight of them in all around.” 

The Silverthorne Storm will now prepare to travel to the Broomfield Flyers gymnastics competition, which will take place on Saturday, June 3, at the Paul Derda Recreation Center in Broomfield.

Following the Broomfield competition, the Storm will then host a home meet at the Silverthorne Recreation Center on June 24 and will then close out the season with a meet on July 8 and the state meet from July 22-23. 

I expect more polished routines, more state qualifiers and plenty of trips to the podium,” Way said of the coming weeks.

To find out more about the Silverthorne Storm gymnastics team, visit Silverthorne.org.