Sarah DeMeo certainly made the most of her only Kansas City metro appearance this year.
The United States national team member, representing the Great American Gymnastic Express (GAGE) and Dragon Gymnastics in Blue Springs, captured first in the Class 10/Open uneven bars (9.575), balance beam (9.725) and floor exercise (9.700) to claim the all-around title (38.250) at the 24th annual Dragon Invitational last weekend at the Metropolitan Community College Business and Technology Exhibit Hall.
"I was thrilled to do so well," DeMeo said. "I felt good about my performances. I tried a lot of new stuff and had some success. And more importantly, all the girls did well. It was so nice to compete in Kansas City, go home and sleep in your own bed and then come back and compete or cheer for the other girls on the team."
Dragon Gymnastics swept six of the top 10 spots in the Level 10/Open competition with Alaina Baker (36.975) taking second, Natalie Ratcliff (36.675) third, Rachel Pember (36.400), Audrey Embree (35.625) seventh and Alicia Meyer (34.675) 10th.
DeMeo said it was special to have her own cheering section.
"It was pretty noisy," she said with a smile. "I bet I had 20 people here to see me. I had a lot of friends and some of my teachers from Blue Valley (High School) and my family.
"Despite the fact that I was working on some new skills, I had a lot of success and a lot of fun."
Reach Bill Althaus at bill.althaus@examiner.net or 350-6395.
