The elimination of men’s gymnastics at the University of Arizona in 1981 ultimately led to the end of high school gymnastics in the state of Arizona in 1988. Once a strong and thriving sport, only three teams remained in 1988 and it was the direct result of the lack of student judges and coaches provided by Arizona and ASU.
While no longer a high school sport, gymnastics thrives in the club circuit and hundreds of athletes have gone on to compete at the college and international level including the latest standouts from Arizona Dynamics.
Mountain View senior Madison Courney committed to the University of Arizona as a freshman and Canyon del Oro senior Halli Mayberry will also be a Wildcat. Catalina Foothills senior Kiersten Belkoff will be competing for Penn and all three gave a lot of credit to their families and to their coaches, Gina Mueller-Martin and Tricia Ogle.
The three have been added to an impressive list of Division I talent from the program including Belkoff’s sisters Corinne and Alexis:
Kassandra Lopez, Utah (2012)
Victoria Ortiz, Arizona (2014)
Natasha Trejo, BYU (2015)
Corinne Belkoff, ASU (2015)
Alexis Belkoff, Sacramento State (2016)
Gabriela Bouza-Lazo, Boise State (2017)
Madison Mariani, Michigan (2018)
Carli Orcutt, San Jose State (2018)
Aimee Titche, Yale (2019)
Madison Courney, Arizona (2020)
Halli Mayberry, Arizona (2020)
Kiersten Belkoff, Penn (2020)
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Andy Morales was recognized by the AIA as the top high school reporter in 2014, he was awarded the Ray McNally Award in 2017, a 2019 AZ Education News award winner and he has been a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. He was the first in Arizona to write about high school beach volleyball and high school girls wrestling. His own children have won multiple state high school championships and were named to all-state teams. Competing in hockey, basketball, baseball and track & field in high school, his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is the Southern Arizona voting member of the Ed Doherty Award, recognizing the top football player in Arizona, and he was named a Local Hero by the Tucson Weekly for 2016. Andy was named an Honorary Flowing Wells Caballero in 2019. Contact Andy Morales at amoralesmytucson@yahoo.com
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