Cheshire Gymnasts Take Center Stage at the XL Center in Hartford

Press Release

Northeast regional boys and girls youth gymnastics take center stage in Connecticut at the XL Center’s Exhibition Hall on Jan. 29 through Jan. 31 as nearly 1,000 gymnasts will compete in the 22nd annual American Invitational.

The event, sponsored by American Gymnastics in Southington, is one of the biggest co-ed youth gymnastics events in the region with gymnasts competing from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Jersey. They will compete in all levels from the Xcel program and Levels 3-10 from ages 6-18.

The competition begins Thursday at 1:30 p.m. with the Xcel Silver division and girls Level 8 competition. On Friday the event begins at 7:30 a.m. with the Xcel Bronze, Platinum and Diamond divisions and girls Level 6 competition. On Saturday it begins at 7:30 a.m. with the girls Level 4 and boys Level 4 competition. For a complete schedule of events, go to www.american-gymnastics.net and click on “Invitational.”

Tickets are $14 each and allows you admission for all three days. The price of admission also gets you a free voucher to any Hartford Wolfpack hockey game in the 2014-2015 season.

A new event at the Invitational this year is individual event finals for girls in Levels 8-10. The top three scorers from individual events on Thursday qualify for the finals on Friday.

Susan Donis, manager at the gym, said bringing event finals to the meet was an important goal of hers in order to bring the competition to the next level.

“We work really hard to make this a destination meet for the region,” Donis said. “In order to attract the higher levels, we need to have a high-caliber event and hosting event finals is another step in that direction.

“The number of registered athletes has steadily climbed over the last three years, increasing by more than 300 competitors. My goal is to always make our meet special for the competitors, coaches and judges so it will make them want to come back each year.”

Katie Atkins, head coach of the girls program at American Gymnastics, said the girls are “really excited” about the individual finals for Levels 8, 9 and 10.

“Our gymnasts at American will be going up against some of the top gymnasts in the region,” Atkins said. “Because of its size and co-ed format, this is a unique event for this area. You really have to go as far as New Jersey to find another meet like this.”

Among the top girls competing from American Gymnastics in Level 10 are 18-year-old Gina Guarnieri and 15-year-old Emily Glatt, both from Cheshire.

Eric Ouellette and Chris Casso, co-head coaches of the boys program at American Gymnastics, are looking forward to the event with American Gymnastics being represented by boys from Cheshire, Southington, Middletown, Farmington and West Hartford.

“This is one of the biggest events for boys in the state,” Casso said. “Just due to the size of the event fans will be treated to some exceptional competition.”

Among the top boys from American Gymnastics are 16-year-old Nathan Hughes of Prospect, the gym’s first Level 10 competitor in a number of years, and Junior Elite gymnast 12-year-old Matthew Cormier of Cheshire.

“Every year this event gets bigger and this year we’ll have over 200 volunteers helping out,” Ouellette said. “Our gym is fortunate to have the depth of talent that we have in both boys and girls competition.

“Another benefit is you get to see talent from other gyms that you aren’t used to competing against. We’re all looking forward to getting out there and competing.”

Among the many gyms expected to compete in addition to American Gymnastics is Whip City Gymnastics of Southwick, Mass., Ocean State Gymnastics of Lincoln, R.I., Campbell’s Gymnastics of Clinton, TNT Gymnastics of Guilford, Prestige Gymnastics of Swansea, Mass., CATS Gymnastics of Cheshire, NEGX of Newington, New Era Gymnastics of Hamden, Green Mountain Gymnastics of Williston, Vt., and Shoreline Gymnastics of Old Saybrook.