BHS Freshman Amanda Montplaisir is in the top of all gymnasts in the western half of the US. On May 8-10 this year, she traveled to Spokane, Washington to participate in the Western National Gymnastics Championships. Every year, the top gymnasts in this half of the country gather to compete for national awards. 28 gymnasts in each of the 16 different age categories attend this competition.
At Westerns this year, Amanda earned scores between 8.5 and 9.5 out of 10 on every event, placing her at 11th out of 28 overall. She placed 5th place on Bars (9.375) and 2nd on Beam (9.525). She has been working toward achieving this for years and is very proud of what she has done.
“[My best accomplishments were] making it to Westerns for my second time this year and winning 2nd place on beam at Westerns this year,” said Montplaisir.
Amanda has been in gymnastics for most of her life. She started at Gymnation in Buffalo, but has since switched gyms. 5 years ago, she switched to the North Shore gym in Maple Plain and has been working with that team ever since.
“I started gymnastics when I was 3 years old because one of my friends invited me to a gymnastics class with her,” said Montplaisir.
Gymnastics meets consist of four events, Vault, Bars, Beam, and Floor. Amanda competes in all four, but likes some more than others.
“My favorite event is beam because there is a lot of variety of skills to learn and it has a lot of challenges to overcome.”
Amanda Montplaisir has accomplished so much in a short time and she’s constantly searching for more opportunities. She plans to continue doing gymnastics through high school and is undecided about college gymnastics.
