Plainfield Girl Named National Qualifier in Gymnastics TOPS Program

Five local girls will be traveling to the Karolyi Ranch in Texas to complete as national qualifiers in the USA Gymnastics TOPS program.

Julia Raczyk, of Naperville, Giada Taranto, of Channahon, Brooklynn York, of Plainfield, Brenna English, of Aurora, and Gabby Chavez, of North Aurora, competed throughout the summer to earn an invitation to the National Test. The program is exclusively for 7 to 10 year olds and measures each gymnast on conditioning, flexibility and gymnastic skills. Nationwide, thousands of girls competed for a chance to compete in Texas, but only 300 are invited.

The Texas events are run under the watchful eye of Valeri Liukin, who was recently named the U.S. Women’s National Team Director. The Ranch (National Training Center) is the same facility where the US Olympic ‘Final Five’ practiced for weeks before heading to Rio. The top scoring 50 girls at the competition will be named to the TOPS A Team and invited back for a week long training camp in December, the 60 next highest scoring girls will be named to the TOPS B Team and also invited to a week long training camp.

For Julia, 10, and Giada, 10, this is their third year as National Qualifiers and have twice been Team B members. Brooklynn, 8, Brenna, 10, and Gabby, 9, all qualified in their first year competing in TOPS. All the girls are coached by Naperville resident Diane O’Brien, Ashley O’Brien, Jason Enke, and Joe Gialombardo at the Oswego gym. Head Coach Diane O’Brien has been running the successful TOPS training program at Premier West for 7 years including many trips to the Ranch.

All the girls are members of Premier Gymnastics Academy West, located in Oswego.

Photo: From left right, Julia Raczyk, Brooklynn York, Brenna English, Gabby Chavez and Giada Taranto.