The Bainbridge Middle School and Bainbridge High School gymnastics teams attended their first meet in Moultrie last Friday. Hosted by the Colquitt County High School team at the YMCA, there were teams from all over South Georgia.
Both teams competed in all four events with only the top three scores counting towards the overall team score.
The high school team, consisting of Kay Bush, Holly Long, Emily Perkins and Haylie Wilkinson, placed first, second and third on all events including the all-around with a team score of 101.1 to qualify them for the state preliminary meet in Atlanta in April.
Together high school Lady Cats won the overall team and placed first.  Their next meet will be Wednesday, March 12, in Thomasville.
This is the first year Bainbridge Middle School has participated in GHSA gymnastics. The rookie squad is made of members Emily Chambers, Josie Deal, McKenzie Findley, Laura Lynn Gordon, Paige Stegall and Caitlin Shephard.
The team represented well on the podium in each of the four events with Laura Lynn Gordon placing third and McKenzie Finley placing second in the all-around. With a combined team score of 95.6, the middle school Lady Cats also won the team competition. Their next meet will be on Friday, April 11, in Moultrie.
Lea Hawkins is the coach of both the middle and high school teams.  Both teams train daily after school at Murkerson’s Gym under the guidance of Melynda Murkerson and Leslie Godwin.  Leslie was the original coach that started the gymnastics program at Bainbridge High School in the late 1990s.