Giant Gymnastics has a banner year

SPARTA — Giant Gymnastics of Sparta has had a banner year with a lot of milestones during the meet season for 2016 -2017.
Not only have levelled classes seen a boom, but Giant premiered a new team - the Junior Olympic team — who compete throughout the year and have a more rigorous practice schedule than the Xcel teams that Giant has. All team members qualified for state competitions. The team’s regular meet season ended with all gymnasts qualifying not only for states, but also scored high enough to enter J.O. Level 5. Their first Level 5 competition will be held May 19th for the Junior Olympic team.
In February, Giant Gymnastics co-hosted the Level 3 & 4 Junior Olympic State Championship meet with more than 500 athletes competing at the Hilton in Parsippany, NJ with USA Gymnastics New Jersey. USAG New Jersey hosted Level 3, while Giant hosted Level 4 during the same weekend. The collaboration marked the renewal of this weekend-long competition. In past years, the competition had been split into two separate weekend competitions, as the NJ Level 3 & 4 clubs outgrew the available space in any one gym. The weekend had a light-hearted Circus theme and included a Top Hat contest for the teams.
Giant is also breaking ground with its Xcel team; having them compete in new regions, and bringing higher level meets to New Jersey. The Xcel Program has doubled this year in New Jersey, as well as at Giant, with a total of 16 gymnasts on the Garden Gators of Sparta team. All members of the team qualified for the state competition, which was held May 5th & 6th.
During the regular season, the Silver Xcel team took 3rd place at Baltimore’s Christmas on the Chesapeake, which was the largest competition the gym has been to. The event was held at the Baltimore Convention Center and saw over 1,200 gymnasts competing in various levels over four days. The Xcel teams also traveled to Connecticut for the first time ever to participate out of their region in the Winter Challenge, hosted by Chelsea Piers CT and NY gymnastics. Giant’s Xcel Silver team took first place, with more than 80 competitors at that level. Kate Sutphen, of Sparta, placed First All Around.
The younger, Bronze team also competed in Connecticut, and placed in local meets, The Turkey Tumble, and the Greater New York Invitational.
Giant Gymnastics will finish the season hosting the Region’s first ever Xcel Regional Invitational. The region boast over 3000 gymnasts in the USAG Xcel program. This prestigious event will be held the first weekend of June, and will feature 500 gymnasts from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia competing at Vernon’s Crystal Springs Resort.
For more information about events, classes and programs at Giant Gymnastics, visit them online at www.GiantGymnastics.com or call 973-579-9400.