---

Lindsay Carlson lives the same life as most 16-year-olds. She still getting acquainted at a new school as a sophomore at Chisago Lakes High School, she's just starting to drive on her own, she enjoys time with her friends and family.

Oh yeah, and she is a state champion and regional runner-up in gymnastics.

Carlson, who lives in Lindstrom with her family, participated in the Minnesota Level 7-10 USAG State Gymnastics Meet at Mound Park Academy nearly a month ago. On April 4, her and 118 other gymnastics descended on the small St. Paul school to tumble, twirl and leap with the best Minnesota has to offer.

Carlson tore through most of the competition with impeccable balance, extraordinary concentration and talent that cannot be taught. Representing Northern Flight Gymnastics from Rush City, Carlson earned first place on the floor exercise, scoring 9.425, first place on the vault with a 9.445, first place on the uneven bars with an 8.8 and fourth place on the balance beam with an 8.375. Her cumulative score of 36.05 earned her a first place in the all-around category, also.

The wins were the penultimate experience to the last four months of rigorous gymnastic training. Carlson said her schedule keeps her in the gym from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, as well as four-hour meets on the weekends. "I just wanted to go to the meet and have fun," she said. "The scores didn't really matter to me."

Although the scores didn't matter to her, they mattered to the judges, who rewarded Carlson with shining scores. After earning the all-around championship and standing atop the podium with her first place medals around her neck, Carlson realized that she had qualified for the regional championships in Wisconsin Dells. "As soon as I was all done, it was just so exhilarating," Carlson said. "I was so excited that I came and did my best at the meet."

The moment was also surreal and memorable for Lindsay's mom, Christine, who said ever since a young age, Lindsay has had to fight to be a gymnast. "I offered Madeline (Lindsay's younger sister by two years) the opportunity to do gymnastics when Lindsay was eight-years-old," Christine explained. "Lindsay wanted to try gymnastics as well, but, she was VERY inflexible. When she was younger had to wear braces on her legs to stretch her achilles tendons out."

Lindsay didn't worry about the challenges, however, all she did was work her tail off the minute she stepped foot in the gymnastics room. "I thought gymnastics would be good for her but did not think she would stick it out because she wouldn't be very good at it," Christine said. "I was wrong. She started competing within the first year of starting gymnastics. I had no idea she would be a top gymnast until she was on the podium at state!"

Lindsay's best got her through a near-sweep of the state meet, but she knew of the challenges that would be waiting at the Dells. The competition was more stiff, and the pressure was greater in the high-stakes competition.

The Regional 4 Championships were last weekend in the Dells. Besides Minnesota gymnasts were there from Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. Even with the four medals in hand from state, the expectations weren't too high for Lindsay. She didn't want to be disappointed with anything, and just wanted to have fun,

It turns out that not only did she have fun, but she nearly surprised a lot of people with another all-around win. She did get two gold medals by finishing first in the balance beam and floor exercise.

Her downfall came in a fourth place finish in the uneven bars and a fifth place finish in the vault. Her cumulative scores left her in second place, just five-tenths of a point out of first, looking up one spot at the champion. But, the meet was a nearly complete success for the young gymnast. She accomplished her goal of having fun and performing solid routines.

Looking forward, Carlson will be jumping up to level nine next year to inch her way to the top of the food chain. Although that wasn't in the plan when Carlson had a shaky start to the season in her first experience in level eight, her late-season push has her more than ready for level nine.

Although the official season won't start until next January for her, Carlson will be plugging away in the gym perfecting her level nine routines. She will also be attending Camp Owen this summer in Cable, WI. The gymnastics camp offers world class instructors and two full weeks of tough training.

Although it will be a while until Lindsay can get back to the competitive side of things, her mom would be happy with all of Lindsay's accomplishments even if she never stepped foot on another balance beam or hung from another set of uneven bars.

"Her hard work and dedication is what I am most proud of. Most things come easy to Linds but not gymnastics, she really has to work hard at gymnastics due to her inflexibility," Christine said. "She still dances occasionally at Kaleidoscope Dance Studio and is a straight A student in all honors classes. She is ranked fifth out of 329 students in her class at Chisago Lakes High School. How she does it all is amazing."

---