10-year-old Kaitlyn Bostrom (above left) of Granite Falls and Alyssa Garza (right), 13, of Marysville, are going to compete in the Olympics. The Junior Olympics, that is. (Coach Shannon O'Hara is in the center.)

The local girls, both students at Pursuit of Perfection (P.O.P.) Gymnastics Academy in Marysville, competed at the Region 2 Rhythmic Championships in Oregon on April 18 and 19. They scored well enough at that competition to qualify for the Junior Olympic Championships to be held May 29-31 in Norfolk, Virginia.

"[It's] awesome," said Bostrom. "I get to go to Virginia! It's out of my state and halfway across the United States!"

Rhythmic gymnastics is different from the more well-known artistic gymnastics. Instead of performing skills on the floor, vault, beam and bars, a rhythmic gymnast performs more dance skills, along with leaps, tosses and turns with a ball, rope, hoop, clubs or ribbon.

"Beautiful, graceful [and] unbelievably flexible," is how Melissa Bostrom, Kaitlyn's mother, describes the sport. "Remember at the Olympics when the girls competed with the ribbons in gymnastics? That is rhythmics."

The girls practice year-round for the sport for nine hours a week at the Marysville gym. They are coached by Shannon O'Hara, who is in her first year at the academy.

George Gonzales, the owner of P.O.P., said she is excited to see these two girls make it to the Junior Olympics.

"It's amazing to see the big turnaround of the team," she said. "[Shannon] has completely changed how they work and look at themselves. They didn't think they could do this at the beginning."

At the regional competition, Kaitlyn and Alyssa competed on floor, rope, hoop and ball. Kaitlyn competed in the Child C category against other girls who are 10 to 11 years old, and placed tenth. Alyssa competed in the Junior B age group with girls 14 to 15 years old within this calendar year. She won the floor event and placed second in the all-around.

Both girls have been competing in the sport for several years. This is Kaitlyn's fourth year on team, and Alyssa's sixth year.

"I have seen such a change in Kaitlyn and Alyssa this year, a renewed love of the sport and drive to succeed," said Melissa Bostrom. "I am very proud of Alyssa and Kaitlyn and Coach Shannon for this outstanding achievement."

Alyssa shares the excitement, and is looking forward to the trip to Virginia.

"It's really cool to think we get to go there after all these years," she said. "It's something I think we as a team have been looking forward to for a long time."



Caption: All smiles as they prepare for the Junior Olympics in rhythmic gymnastics are (from left) Kaitlyn Bostrom, Coach Shannon O'Hara and Alyssa Garza.

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