The Murkerson’s Gymnast-A-Cats gymnastics team had a strong showing at the Pink & White Invite competition at the Emerald Coast Conference Center in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., last weekend. A portion of the proceeds of the competition were donated to the American Cancer Society for breast cancer research.

The Gymnast-A-Cats competed in honor of Cathy Holt and the late Kay Barber.

With teams representing three states, the level three gymnasts posted a third-place overall finish as a team. Laura Lynn Gordon finished first in the bars, beam, and floor events, while placing first all-around. Annie Bridges finished third in the vault and floor exercises and posted a third-place all-around finish. Finishing second in bars and fourth all around was Paige Stegall.

The level four gymnasts won the team all-around gold medal. Three gymnasts, in three different age groups, won all-around gold medals for the Gymnast-A-Cats. Anna Lee Lockart won gold in the vault, beam, and floor routines, along with all-around gold. Winning gold medals in vault and beam, Emily Chambers also won the gold all-around medal in her age group. McKenzie Findley won the all-around gold medal in another age group while winning gold in the bars and beam.

Also in level four, Caroline Middleton won gold medals in vault and bars while finishing third in all-around. Breanna Dean won the silver medal in the floor routine and Sarah-Kaylee Wynn won the silver in the vault exercise. Gabby Hardee won the gold on the floor, silver on the beam, and posted a third-place all-around finish. Karlie Bridges won the bronze medal in the floor routine and finished fourth all-around. Megan Haire won gold medals in the floor and vault while finishing second all-around. Winning bronze medals in the vault and floor was Sydney Thompson, who finished fifth all-around.

“I am so proud of our girls and how they performed. The first meet of the season, you always have to brush the rust off, but our gymnasts came right out of the gate with great scores,” said coach Melynda Murkerson.

The Gymnast-A-Cats also won the all-around gold medal in the Xcel Silver division. Bree Powell finished first all- around while winning the gold medal in the vault and floor exercises and silver on the bars. Brianna Mills won the gold in the floor routine, silver in the vault, bronze on the bars and beam, and finished second all-around.

Finishing third and fourth all-around were Macey Roland and Josie Deal. Macey won the silver medal on the beam and bronze on the vault, while Josie won the silver medal on the bars. Jessie Oliver won the gold medal on the vault and bronze on the floor routine, finishing fifth all-around.

Haylie Wilkinson finished third all-around in the Xcel Platinum group. She won the silver medal on the floor and bronze medals on the vault and beam.

The Gymnast-A-Cats next compete in the Sunbelt Shindig in Moultrie on Oct. 15 and 16.