Two Morgantown gymnasts set to compete in national championship
North central West Virginia has a legacy when it comes to female gymnasts. It's been a long 42 years since Mary Lou Retton struck gold, but that hasn’t discouraged the next generation of athletes looking to write themselves into the history books.
FAIRMONT, W. Va. (WBOY) — North central West Virginia has a legacy when it comes to female gymnasts.
It’s been a long 42 years since Mary Lou Retton struck gold, but that hasn’t discouraged the next generation of athletes looking to write themselves into the history books. Anna Bowsher, a junior at University High School and Allie Howell, a senior at Morgantown High School, are two local gymnasts who have qualified for this year’s USA Gymnastics Women’s Development Program Level 10 National Championship taking place this weekend in Oklahoma City. Allie Howell Anna Bowsher Out of the registered 147,000 gymnasts nationwide, only 750 females have qualified for this event.
In the USA Gymnastics hierarchy, gymnasts are ranked in levels 1-11, with 1 being ranked lowest and 11 being ranked highest. Bowsher and Howell are ranked at level 10 and according to the United States Association of Gymnastics (USAG), there are 2,600 10s nationwide, and 10 level 10s here in West Virginia. To get a better gauge, the elite level are the gymnasts who will be competing in events like the world championships and Olympics and level 10 gymnasts are those good enough to compete at high collegiate levels, with some even straddling the elite level.
We caught up with both of the local gymnasts to see how they’re feeling ahead of their trip west. “I’m excited! I’m nervous because there’s going to be a ton of coaches there watching, but I’m really excited and I’ve worked hard for it, so I deserve it,” Bowsher said.