The impressive early season form of Jamaica’s young gymnasts continued when they notched numerous individual and two team prizes at the Caribbean Fest gymnastics tournament in Ashburn, Virginia, on Saturday.

The four-member level one team of Jenya Allison, Makebaray Allen, Leanna Blake and Renara Walker claimed the top award in their category, at the three-day meet which ended yesterday.

Comprising Arianna Morrison, Alexis McPherson, Victoria Lewin, Tannarra Thompson and Sydney Chung, the level two team also finished tops in their category.

The 15-member contingent is scheduled to arrive in the island at 2:30 pm today.

Nicole Grant, president of Jamaica Gymnastics Association, expressed sheer delight with the results which she said signalled a consistent level of improvement from the gymnasts.

She added that the Caribbean Fest was used to intensify the team’s preparation phase ahead of the Caribbean Gymnastics Championships scheduled for April 28 and 29 in Barbados.

“The team did exceptionally well at the Caribbean Fest in Virginia and I am very proud of them, knowing that they went out there and competed to the best of their abilities.

“Before they competed I told them that I would still be proud of them regardless of the outcome… all I required was that they gave of their best to make themselves, Jamaica, and their parents proud, and that’s exactly what they did,” Grant told the

Jamaica Observer in a telephone interview from Virginia.

“Honestly, at their age; to accomplish so much with very little resources, you really can’t ask for much more. I would also like to thank the various sponsors Mona Motors, MD Entertainment and Reverend Delroy Lue of Ads Limited among other supporters and well-wishers for making this possible,” she added.

“From here we can only build on this accomplishment. The girls have really been improving a lot and we anticipate that there will be even more outstanding performances in the near future, starting at the Caribbean Championships. But for now we are going to celebrate this one,” noted Grant.

Earlier, when the gymnasts contested the individual categories, Chung finished tops all-round in the floor and bars apparatus, with scores of 9.700 and 9.525, respectively.

On the floor, she won ahead of Lewin (9.500), Morrison (9.400) and McPherson (9.350). Lewin (9.350), Morrison (9.300) and Thompson (9.050) were the runners-up on the bars.

Meanwhile, Thompson (9.200) and Morrison (9.125) were third and fourth, respectively, on the beam all-round, while Thompson and McPherson were second and third in the vault all-round.

In the level one category, Allison swept the bar and floor apparatus with scores of 9.150 on the bars and 9.800 on the floor. Blake (9.050) was second on the bar and Walker (8.700) third, while Makebaray (9.650) and Walker (9.525) took the runners-up spots on the floor.

Allison also topped the vault apparatus ahead of Makebaray and Blake. However, Makebaray (9.400) took top honours on the beam, followed by Allison (9.100) and Blake (9.000).

The level three team of Joi-Ann Henry and Habbey Carnegie were first and fourth, respectively, in the vault all-round.

The duo was fourth and fifth, on the bars with scores of 8.925 and 8.900, respectively, while Henry was second on the beam with a score of 9.050. Though achieving creditable scores of 9.425 and 8.750, respectively, neither was able to hit the podium on the floor apparatus.