The Overland co-op gymnastics team — which merges together athletes from all over the city — had its best result in a few years as a team in the 2023 season.
Coach Lisa Sparrow’s Trailblazers capitalized on their ideal rotation at the Class 5A state meet at Thornton High School to finish in a tie with Broomfield for second place in a tight competition behind winner Mountain Range (story, here).
The two individuals who consistently led Overland all season — sophomore Ainsley Renner and senior Kyla Burke — make up the 2023 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Gymnastics Team, which is based on performance at the season-ending state meet.
Renner’s freshman season was hindered greatly by injury, as she only returned to competition late in the season. As a sophomore, the Grandview High School student got the chance to show off her ability in all four events, which gave her a wide variety of top finishes in all-around competitions.
Besides All-Aurora all-around honors, Renner also finished as the city’s best in the vault.
Burke (a Colorado Early Colleges student) qualified for the individual event finals in all four events (as she placed seventh in the all-around standings) and earned All-Aurora honors on the balance beam, uneven bars and floor exercise.
She was the league champion in the event with a score of 9.25, bumped that up to 9.4 to take second at regionals and then got even better scores at the state meet with a 9.450 that qualified her to the individual event finals. Renner’s last score of the year for a 9.600 that put her in fourth place individually.
On the balance beam and in the floor exercise, Burke saved her best for last.
Burke finished the season on the floor with a 9.525 in the individual event finals — her best score of the year — which landed her a third-place medal. Burke also scored 9.475 in the event during the team competition and earned a 9.3 or better on her last four routines.
The balance beam also saw her perform her best in the final weeks of the season, as she scored 9.400 in three of her final four performances. Burke earned that score at the Centennial/Continental League Championships to take third and the same result got her a fourth-place regional finish. She dipped a bit to 9.250 in the team competition, but it qualified her for the individual event finals, where another 9.400 earned her third place.
Burke also repeated as Aurora’s top performer on the uneven bars, where she finished in 13th place with a score of 8.975 in the team competition at state, followed by an 8.500 in the individual event finals.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2023 AURORA SENTINEL ALL-AURORA GYMNASTICS TEAM
All-around — Ainsley Renner, soph., Overland; Floor exercise — Kyla Burke, sr., Overland; Vault — Ainsley Renner, soph., Overland; Balance beam — Kyla Burke, sr., Overland; Uneven bars — Kyla Burke, sr., Overland
Honorable mention: Aubrey Cox, jr., Overland; Ainsley Renner, soph., Overland; Maya Richman, sr., Overland
