Brighton Student Gymnast Takes Home Two State Titles

When FlexTech High School freshman Amelia Moorehouse is not at school, more than likely, she's practicing gymnastics.

Moorehouse, a Gregory resident who took up gymnastics about four years ago, said she practices five times a week or about 21 hours. But all the hard work paid off when Moorehouse took home two State Championship Titles from the USAG State Championship Gymnastics meet in Lansing this past weekend.

The event, which is the largest gymnastics meet in the state, attracted about 600 of the best gymnasts from throughout Michigan, competing for state titles in Levels 7-10.

Moorehouse won the Level 7 State Championship in the balance beam and the floor exercise in her age group. She scored a 9.450 to win the balance beam, and a 9.50 to take the state title in the floor exercise.

"I felt awesome about the meet," Moorehouse said. "It was a really great experience and a great feeling. But what I'm most proud of is that our team got third out of 35 teams. I think that's such a huge accomplishment. And everyone on my team worked really hard for this meet all year. It was really an incredible feeling."

Moorehouse competes out of Gym America in Ann Arbor, which had a total of seven gymnasts win state titles over the weekend. There are 13 girls on the Level 7 team, which Moorehouse competes on.

Moorehouse is no stranger to state titles. Last year, she won the championship on the uneven bars. This year, she is most proud of her accomplishments on the balance beam.

"Floor has always come pretty easily to me, so I'm pretty proud of beam," she said.

Moorehouse injured her foot on the balance beam a few weeks before the meet.

"That was a big worry for me because I haven't done anything in the past two weeks and this was the biggest meet of the year," she said. "I was pretty proud of myself for stepping it up and pushing through to win two events."