North Oconee and Buford took the team titles at the Gymnastics state championships Friday night at Buford Arena. North Oconee won its first-ever state title in 2019 and after the 2020 season was cut short, picked up another title in 2021 before this year’s triumph in the Class A-5A field. The Titans’ maintained their dynasty, despite Class of 2023 standout Madison McMullen graduating early to compete at George Washington University with a score of 113.800 to second place Bremen’s 103.075.
Buford’s victory in the Class 6A-7A field resulted in the Wolves’ first state title since their three-peat in 2014-16.
The Wolves were led by Marissa Ashton—who took first place in the Vault and the All-Around (38.975) title and also picked up a second place finish in the Beam and fourth place in the Floor. Buford dominated the Floor with Bellarae Newby earning a second-place finish and Lily Black tallying a third-place finish. Buford finished state runner-up last year to Newnan, but closed out the season at the top of the rankings with a 112.817 team score and posted a 11.675 in the prelims on Wednesday to set up their championship-clinching (113.900) performance on Friday.
In Class A-5A, Pike County’s Madelyn Crow won the All-Around with a historic 39.700. Crow’s All-Around victory included perfect 10.000 in the Vault, Beam and the Floor and a 9.700 in the Bars, resulting in a clean sweep of every individual Class A-5A individual title.
East Forsyth High School made its championship debut as a first-year school in Class A-5A and Katelynne Tatum picked up a fourth-place finish in the All-Around (37.500) and landed a 9.700 in the vault. Katie Andrews of Forsyth Central also had