Amanda Gruber stars at Level 9 Championships

It’s likely Virginia Beach, Va., will be a place Amanda Gruber remembers fondly for years to come.

Gruber, a Riverside Brookfield freshman, had four top-10 event finishes and placed fourth in the all-around at the USA Gymnastics 2016 Level 9 Eastern Championships, but her performances won’t be all she remembers.

“It was amazing,” Gruber said of the meet, which concluded May 1. “It was everything I expected. From the arena being so big to the training sessions to the banquet to competing, it was all exciting. It wasn’t like any other meet and I wouldn’t have wanted it to be.”

Gruber’s results were just as impressive as the atmosphere surrounding the meet.

She scored a 37.45 in the all-around (the total of all four event scores), finishing just .25 points back of first place. She also placed fourth on beam with a 9.45, even though she said it wasn’t her most crisp routine.

“I could have done better on beam,” Gruber said. “I had a couple of slips.”

Gruber said her floor routine, which led to a ninth-place score of 9.225, was a solid one. She was sixth on uneven bars with a score of 9.3, but she was most pleased with her performance on vault.

“It was my best vault of the season, so that was exciting for me,” said Gruber, who placed eighth on vault with a score of 9.475 for her second score above 9.0 on vault this season. “For vault I had a lot of adrenaline and energy to compete. I was really excited for it.”

Gruber trains at Flying High Sports and Rec Center in Countryside five days a week, and she hopes to move up to Level 10 for the next competitive season.

She gave credit to her Flying High teammates, who shared notes of encouragement with her before she headed to Virginia Beach, and her coaches for helping her reach such great heights this season.

“My coaches are really supportive and know how to push me,” she said.