Kaylie Davis made the 300-mile trip to Des Moines, Iowa in early August to participate in gymnastics competition at the AAU Junior Olympics.
The Bellflower resident left the Hawkeye State with a medal.

Davis finished fourth in beam competition, becoming one of five members from her Aim High Elite gymnastics team to earn a medal at the Junior Olympics gymnastics event, which was held at the MidAmerican Energy RecPlex, located just west of Des Moines. It was a great ending to a gymnastics career that started just eight years ago.

“Honestly, it was like a perfect way to finish my senior season,” Davis said. “I was like, ‘Whatever happens happens. If I don’t qualify, I still made it.’ To qualify for that, I was like, ‘Wow, I get to go the next day.’”

The 18-year-old was one of 16 Aim High Elite members who competed at the Junior Olympics. Aim High Elite is based in Troy.

“There were three of us who were seniors,” Davis said. “We’re all from different counties. A lot of the other girls who went as well are younger than I am. I have a good relationship with all of them, so I feel like it was a good group of us to go.”

Davis started gymnastics when she was 10 years old. She started practicing at Aim High, which is a 30-minute drive from her home.

“I started out dancing when I was little, then I did a little tumbling,” Davis said. “My cousin went to Aim High, so we got their number. I just wanted to do tumbling. I never really knew what gymnastics was. I just wanted to tumble because I liked doing flips.”

Davis learned how to compete in vault, bars, beam and floor while at Aim High. She said she liked doing all of them.

“Personally, I can’t dislike any of them because then they’ll all turn against you,” Davis said. “Pretty much, I like them all the same.”

Davis was coached by Angie Taylor and Traci Gondron. The two have been coaching together for almost 30 years.

Taylor said Davis brought a strong work ethic to the Aim High group all eight years.

“She has been such an incredible, hard-working gymnast,” she said. “She always sets the example and the younger girls really look up to her.”
Davis competed in vault, bars, beam and floor at the Junior Olympics. She qualified for a trip to Iowa by turning in a strong performance in all four divisions at the AAU Nationals in Knoxville, Tenn.

“It’s like any other sport, you do your regular season and compete against other people,” Davis said. “You get to districts and you have to be present and compete all of those to go to nationals. At nationals, you have to get top 10 in any other event or all-around, which is all four events together to go. So my floor routine got me to Junior Olympics.”

Davis was first in beam, fourth in bars, fifth in vault, seventh in floor and third all-around at the Junior Olympics. She competed in all four divisions on the first day of competition on Aug. 5 and qualified for the beam finals, which were held two days later.

Davis credits her family members for her outstanding gymnastics career.
“I probably wouldn’t be able to do any of it without them,” she said. “They were a big part of it. I would come home crying some days about it. I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ They are there to uplift me and help me out.”

The trip to the Junior Olympics was part of a busy summer for Davis, who graduated from Montgomery County High School in May. She also went on a graduation cruise, visited the Lake of the Ozarks and showed her steer and hog at the Junior Livestock Auction at the Montgomery County Fair.

Now that summer is coming to an end, Davis plans on working at her family farm.

“I like everything that involves a challenge,” Davis said. “Gymnastics is a challenge. It’s something to improve and look forward to and do something new with. Animals are my thing because I’m really involved with that.”