At the Arizona Grand Invitational in Phoenix on Jan. 16, two West End girls won big. With teams coming from as far as California, Tennessee, New York, Alaska and even Canada, Ember Blair, of Norwood, took third overall and Norah Herland, of Redvale, took fourth overall. The two girls are teammates on the Telluride Gymnastics Team and competing at the Gold Level.
Ember Blair has been in the Telluride gymnastics program, owned and operated by Teresa and Andrew Brachle, for the last three years. She told the Forum that floor is her favorite event.
In Phoenix, she was first on the vault, second on bars, fifth on the floor and eighth on the balance beam.
“It felt pretty good,” she sad in an interview last week. “I was in Gold last year, and it wasn’t my best year … I didn’t place in anything last year. This year I placed in everything.”
She said she credits her growth to “practicing a lot” and “becoming way more flexible.” She said she wasn’t previously as flexible as she is now.
Her mother, Jenny Blair, said her daughter is very courageous, and she admires the way Ember fearlessly attempts challenges in her sport. She’s also impressed that her daughter can do a back handspring on a balance beam.
“She is brave,” Jenny Blair said. “That is her strength.”
Norah Herland has only been competing in gymnastics for the last year. In Phoenix she was first on the balance beam, tied for sixth in the floor event (with a Telluride teammate and one other girl from a different team), was seventh on vault but didn’t place on the bars.
Like her teammate Ember Blair with whom she’s become good friends, Herland loves floor the most.
She admitted she was nervous in Phoenix.
“I really was, I was nervous in the beginning, it was an awkward morning, and I didn’t eat anything, but I went out there and did the best I could, and I did pretty good,” she said.
Now that the first big meet is over, she feels ready for the Utah meet, Feb. 5. Her mom, Katey Herland, who is learning what it means to be a gymnastics mom, said she discovered it’s a serious event. She’s been told Utah produces some high-level gymnasts, and the judging will be tougher there.
Sadly, Blair won’t be competing, due to recently losing her grandfather. She needs to travel for services and to be with family, though she made no complaint to the Forum about missing the meet.
Both girls qualified for the state gymnastics meet and will compete there in April. If either of the girls advances, they’ll head to the regional national tournament which happens this year in Texas in May.
While both young women love their sport, and their teammates, they also love the coaches. The girls have Teresa Brachle and Leah Cristadoro behind them, and mom Katey Herland said those ladies are amazing and create a learning environment that is very positive.
“After being in Arizona, and watching all those teams, they had bars coaches, floor coaches, all-around coaches, so many coaches,” she said. “We showed up with our two.”
Katey Herland feels thankful for Brachle and Cristadoro.
“I told those ladies I am so grateful for them. We are incredibly blessed with our coaches and team,” she said.
Additionally, she said it’s interesting to watch big-city teams show up, knowing they have such a large population of girls to pull from.
“We are working with what we’ve got, and we are working with the best of the best,” she said. “They are the best coaches, and it’s so cool we have such awesome gymnasts from such a small area.”
“They’e really supportive,” Ember Blair added of Brachle and Cristadoro, “and they don’t force you to do things, and they joke with us a lot.”
