Some of the gymnasts at the Gymnastics Training Center in Rochester have their eye on the Olympics, and if the recent performances of some Lake Orion gymnasts are any indication, they could well be headed there.
Lake Orion residents Charlie Maurer, 10; Brandon Noore, 8; Alec Krystek, 8; and Dominic Isham, 10; compete for the Class Six team ‘GTC Classics? at the center.
The team took first place recently in the Saginaw Gym Gestures and Crowder Cup competitions, and third in the Queen City Meet in Cincinnati.
The center holds the Crowder Cup Winter Classic every year in honor of Stephen Crowder, a Lake Orion resident and Scripps Middle School student who was killed in a bicycle-car accident in 2002. Crowder, who died at age 14, trained as a gymnast at the center for four years.
‘We take a portion of the entries and we call it the Crowder Foundation,? said GTC Boys Director Shawn Clement. ‘It’s used for college gymnast scholarships…we’ve made about $2,000 in the last two years.
Besides the Class Six team, the Class Four team has also done well in competition. Lake Orion gymnast Curtis Loveday, 14, is a member of that team, which also won the Crowder Cup and first place in the Hocking Valley Meet in Lancaster, Ohio.
Loveday finished second all-around in the Saginaw meet. Lake Orion’s Joe Fraga, 12, is also a member of the Class Four team, along with Lake Orion brothers Collin, 12, and Ryan, 13, Dunn.
Lake Orion’s Dillion Siterlet, 11, is a member of GTC’s winning Class Five team, along with Lake Orion’s Matthew Latham, also 11. That team recently won the Crowder Cup, Saginaw and took third in the Whitfield Meet in Ann Arbor.
Maurer, a member of the Class Six team and a student at Blanche Sims Elementary, said he got involved in the sport because his mother, Julie Maurer, was also a gymnast that trained at GTC.
‘I started when I was in my mom’s tummy,? he joked.
Maurer began his training at age two, the same age as many of his other Class Six teammates. Noore began at three years old, Krystek at three and Isham at two. Clement said Loveday began training at GTC when he was eight. The boys are coached by GTC head coach Curtis Wilson.
‘They practice three days a week for 12 hours a week,? said Clement. ‘They can practice more if they want to.?
The teams at GTC begin their competitive season in November and end with a state meet in March. The gymnasts practice year-round.
Noore said he started taking gymnastics because the equipment interested him. Krystek said his sister was a gymnast.
‘It looked fun,? said Isham of why he began in the sport.
All compete in six events: Floor, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bars. Krystek said the floor exercise is his favorite event.
‘I like the horizontal bars,? said Noore.
Isham said he likes the parallel bars best and Maurer chose the pommel horse.
Asked if they think they might make it to the Olympics someday, Maurer said ‘Right now, I’m thinking about it.?
‘I think I feel like going in the Olympics,? agreed Noore.