BERMUDA'S gymnastic team which competed at the Chicago Style Invitational tournament last weekend brought home six medals. The team took four Level 7's and four Level 10's at the world's largest artistic gymnastics competition which saw some 190 teams with over 4,000 gymnasts competing from the US, Australia and Bermuda.

The Level 7's performed admirable bringing home six medals between them.

The highest scorer of the team was Tabytha Hofheins (10) who brought in a beam score of 9.575 which earned her second place. She also medaled on floor in 10th place with a 9.35. Morgan Cleave (10) was not far behind her teammate putting up a nice beam score of 9.425 which earned her a sixth place medal. Rounding out the medal holders for Bermuda was Rosie Finnigan (11) who placed eighth on bars with a 9.0, ninth on floor with a 9.375 and 11th in the all around. It was quite a competitive meet with many girls scoring in the high nines (ten being the perfect score).

Coach Michelle Strenk said the competition was a wonderful experience for the girls who wooed the judges.

It was a great start to the beginning of their season and now they look forward to their next meet in New York.

Coach Michelle Strenk said the Level 7 team looked prepared and polished as they performed their routines. "They should have quite a successful 2008," she said adding that Riann Ming (14) showed true determination competing full routines on all four events despite the fact that she was in great pain.

"Riann injured her foot in our Bermuda training gym tumbling so badly that her coaches sent her the hospital for X rays on Wednesday night. Through a lot of ice and an extremely taped-up foot, she did all of her level 10 skills at the meet."

The coach added that when her parents tried to tell her to withdraw from the meet, she replied: "I've trained too hard to not compete in this meet. I'm going!"