I&M Gymnastics: Channahon Boys Score High Marks

Everywhere they go, they are outnumbered. Rarely, are they outscored.

The three young boys who make up the I&M Gymnastics Team of Channahon won 5-of-6 meets from December to mid-April, including a sweep of the Level IV state championships in Rockford.

Next they are headed to Disney World to ride Space Mountain and see if they can cap a memorable season with one more joyride at the GIJO Nationals June 14-15 in Orlando, Fla.

With these Three Amigos—Jared Bieker, 11; Tyler Ratcliff, 10; and Mekhi Cortes, 8—it’s all for one and one for all. Not only do they train together for six hours each week, they also play together when they’re outside the gym. They’re best friends.

Ratcliff was the Level IV state champ in the all-around. Bieker followed hot on his heels in second place. And Cortes finished no worse than third in any of the six individual events he performed in his age group at the state meet.

“Our three boys have to hit,” I&M Gymnastics coach Matthew Havelka said. “The team score is taken by the three best individual scores on the team. I only have three boys. So, they have to hit. And we have to take that score.

“That’s what is so impressive about it. Even other coaches at the gyms are like, ‘Wow, that’s so impressive. You only have three boys.’ They have 15 or 20 boys. They can pick the cream of the crop.”

In Orlando, the I&M Gym Team of Channahon will be facing the cream of the crop. And the boys say, “Bring it on.”

“I find it very exciting to go to Disney World,” Bieker said. “It’s going to be very fun for me, and it’s going to be a very good experience. I can’t wait to do this. It’s been my dream to go somewhere that other gymnastics dream of going.”

Ratcliff said he is planning to make the trip part business and part pleasure—and he sounds like a grown-up when he delivers his remarks.

“I’m definitely going to have some fun,” he said. “I’m going to make it a vacation when I can. My best event, I would think, is pommel horse. I’m really good it, I guess. The high-bar is scary sometimes. I try not to think about it.

“I’ve wiped out up there a few times. I learned not to hold on with just your fingers but to actually grip the bar and stay on.”

Cortes can’t wait to ride Space Mountain—again—he’s already been to Disney. And he’s looking forward to getting out of the gym.

“It’s excellent,” he said of going to nationals in Florida. “But it takes a lot of hours.”

Cortes’ mother, Sally, said life lessons come out of the hours the boys spend together in the gym. And she said the lessons go well beyond hitting a routine or scoring a high mark.

“Oh, yeah, definitely, I think it goes on as far as discipline and respect, a self-respect for themselves,” she said. “Strength, endurance. It shows teamwork. They make friends. Even for the Moms—we’ve become really good friends. It becomes like a family here.”

John Bieker—Jared’s dad—remembers when the boys started about 18 months ago and marvels over the progress they’ve made during that time.

“I’m blown away,” he said. “They’ve improved so much. We never dreamed they would go to nationals. We never dreamed they would compete at a high level at state. So, to win both state meets and then to go to nationals is really unbelievable.”

Susan Bieker talked about how her son, Jared, has blossomed at I&M Gymnastics.

“He’s never been able to compete like this in a wide-spread forum,” she said. “But then, also, these three boys have grown very close in the last year. The team effort they have is amazing. To watch their interactions—they’re bothers. They are.”