Area gymnasts shine in competition at national meet

Alexis Estrada of Dodge City and Kaisha Batman of Ingalls competed in last month's AAU Age Group National Finals meet at Disney's Wide World of Sports and came back from the high-fever atmosphere of the national meet after placing in the top-ten in all-around competition in their respective age groups.
    Alexis, age 9, placed third in the beam , seventh in the floor exercise and ninth overall in her age group. Kaisha, 10, got fourth in the uneven bars, sixth in floor exercise and seventh in all-around competition in her age group.
    "It was such a big meet with lots of groups competing at the same time," Estrada said.
    Batman added: "I liked competing in Nationals because it was so different than our other meets. There were more people and it was bigger, plus it was at Disneyworld."
    The girls train under Janet Smith, a gymnastics coach for 25 years, who currently runs a gym in Dodge City.