Congratulations to the recipients of the Region 3 special awards and judges awards at the Region 3 Championships. The competition was jointly hosted by all clubs in the region and was held at Highland Park High School in Dallas, TX, May 19-20, 2018.

Special Award Recipients

Athletes of the Year – Emily Davis & Aubrey Rosilier

This Senior Elite women’s pair trains at Acrobatic Gymnastics of San Antonio. This is their second year together, during which they have achieved the following:

• Silver Medal Geneva Acro Cup
• 2017 USA National Champions
• Pan American Champions
• 4th Place World Games in Wroclaw, Poland
• 2018 5th Place World Acrobatic Championships

The pair’s outstanding combined routine from World Championships qualifications was posted by USA Gymnastics on Facebook, and, through shares, has been viewed over 3.4 million times – and counting – by people all over the world, many of whom have never seen competitive acrobatics before. The band Distrubed, whose song they use for their combined routine, gave them a shout-out on social media and also reposted their routine on Instagram and Twitter, further spreading the beautiful sport of acrobatics to many more people across the globe.

The pair came back from World Championships determined to continue their quest for World Cup and World Championship medals next season. They practice 5 days a week – somedays twice a day – totaling 27-30 hours per week. We are proud of their dedication, hard work, and accomplishments and feel they deserve to be named Region 3 Athletes of the Year!

Elite Coach of the Year – Gawain Dupree

Head coach of Crescent City Gymnastics and coach of 13-19 WP that placed bronze at WAGC and of 12-18 MP finalists at WAGC

JO Coach of the Year – Ivan Ivanov

Ivan Ivanov was a very successful athlete, coach and judge in Bulgaria. His Bulgarian Champion Men’s Four took 12 medals at World Cup, World Championships and European Championships. Ivan came to the US in 2015 and coached for Kilgore ACRO. His JO athletes took 2 Gold, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze at the 2015 US Nationals. He later moved to New Orleans and teamed up with NOLA Gymnastics. His NOLA JO athletes won 2 Gold, a Silver, and Bronze in 2016, and a Gold, Silver, and Bronze in 2017.  The Federation of International Gymnastics FIG has invited Ivan to be a judge at many World Cup and World Championships. His knowledge provides a valuable asset to our JO Program in the US.

Rookie coach of the year – Jessica Renteria

Jessica retired as a senior elite women’s pair base in 2017 but has continued to be involved in acro as a clinician, choreographer, and coach at WOGA.

Star Service – Brandi Wren

Brandi stepped in to the JO chair position for our region and has helped tremendously in preparing for regional championships and helping other region board members. Brandi has also stepped up to be the meet director for Region 3 Championships and has done a great job organizing this event for our Region.

Special Recognition – Selena Peco

Selena has worn many hats throughout her acro career – many at the same time!  She’s been an athlete, coach, choreographer, parent of an athlete, administrator, volunteer and judge.

Selena started her team Fliptastics and year by year, grew her program from Level 5 up to Elite National Team Members.  Her athletes were getting noticed due to her innovative choreography and original skill elements.  It wasn’t long before Fliptastics was known on a national level as producing top athletes.  Although Selena has had so many amazing accomplishments, I can safely say that having her daughter become an elite athlete and make the USA National Team was one of her most proud and memorable moments in her career.  She enjoyed traveling to international competitions playing dual roles of coach and judge when needed.  You could always count on Selena to do whatever was needed for Team USA to succeed.

The hurricane was devastating not only for Fliptastics, but Selena personally.  Somehow she managed to continue holding together her the team she held so dearly in her heart.  Fliptastics was everything to Selena and she gave so much during those hard times to make sure that her kids could continue in the sport they loved.

Selena stepped into the role as JO Chair on the Program Committee and played an important role in creating and developing the Junior Olympic Code of Points – one of the most time consuming jobs in acro.  No one can even begin to count the amount of volunteer hours she has put in to our sport!

As a judge Selena quickly moved up the levels of internationally ranked Brevet judges.  She judged at countless international meets.  Her knowledge and expertise made her a “go-to” person whenever there were questions about tariff sheets or international rules.  Selena always had the right answers!

There’s not enough time to accurately account for everything Selena has done for the sport of acrobatics in the USA.  We want to truly thank and honor Selena for everything she has done over her 40 plus years in the sport!

Judges Award Winners

High Score JO Levels 5-6

L6 WP (CCG) – Sofia Corales & Briton Desantis – combined routine 27.33

High Score JO Levels 7-10

L10 WG (CCG) – Marley Aamodt, Grace Gootee, Allison Hughs – balance routine 35.9

High Score International

Sr Elite WP (AGSA) – Emily Davis & Aubrey Rosilier – combined routine 28.5

Best Artistic Performance JO Levels 7-10

L8 WP (AGSA) – Delaney Lizama & Rylee Pirtle – dynamic routine

Best Artistic Performance International

11-16 WG (WOGA) – Polina Bakman, Aubrey Nguyen, Remi Nguyen – dynamic routine