Raleigh gymnast Sydney Snead placed seventh in the nation this past weekend and earned a chance to work with one of the legends of gymnastics.
Snead competed in the Junior A all-around competition at the Level 10 Junior Olympic National Championships in Long Beach, Calif.
Level 10 is the highest level before Elite (Olympic) competition in gymnastics.
Snead, who won the Region 8 championship to qualify for nationals, scored a 9.5 (fifth place) on the floor exercise, 9.6 on the vault (tie for fifth), 9.325 (tie for 11th) on the bars and a 9.025 (tie for 33rd) on the beam at nationals to total 37.45 overall in helping lead Region 8 to a third-place finish.
The Junior A division consisted of the top 56 girls age 14 and under. Alexandra McMurtry of Richmond Olympiad finished first overall at 38.575. (Complete results.)
Her finish qualifies Snead for a national training camp at Bella Karolyi's Texas ranch, her mother, Michelle Snead, reported.
Snead's hard work as a gymnast was featured in this past Friday's News & Observer and Teri Saylor's Who's Got Game column this past Wednesday in the North Raleigh News and the Midtown Raleigh News.
*** Got more recreational sports news? Contact Teri Boggess at play@newsobserver.com. ***
