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PORT RICHEY
This could have been Jaymi Baxter's best season ever. The River Ridge senior, who has been doing gymnastics since age 3, was intent on qualifying for the United States of America Gymnastics Nationals for a fourth time. "She was training exceptional to where she had a shot at a national championship this year," said Arnold Gwinn, Baxter's coach and owner of Suncoast Gymnastics Academy.
In December, Baxter was practicing a flip with a twist in her floor exercise routine, designed to impress the judges, when she landed wrong. She tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, sidelining her from competing in Level 10, the highest level of gymnastics competition.
Still, she has maintained a spirited demeanor and optimistic outlook. Baxter, 18, earned a gymnastics scholarship to Kent State University in East Liverpool, Ohio, and figures to be recovered in ample time to compete as a college freshman.
"I was definitely looking forward to a really great season," she said. "But it's still okay, because I need to be healthy and be 100 percent for college."
Baxter has overcome her share of adversity over the years. On the physical side were two broken ankles and a fractured finger.
Then there were the emotional challenges, with the deaths of several close relatives and a stroke that her 22-year-old sister, Jessica, suffered in 2010, just three months after graduating from Florida State University.
"She's very strong-willed," Maria Baxter said of her daughter, Jaymi. "She's prevailed through it all."
Jessica Baxter has recovered enough to move out of the family's Port Richey home. "We're a family of fighters and she's come back on track," Maria Baxter said. "Her little sister was there for her 100 percent, as well as doing gymnastics."
Jaymi Baxter hoped to reach nationals for a fourth time just like Jamie Burnette, one of eight girls from Suncoast Gymnastics to earn a scholarship and compete at the college level.
Burnette, a 2003 River Ridge graduate who competed at the University of Arkansas, made nationals three times at Level 9 and once as a Level 10 competitor. Baxter made nationals once at Level 9 and twice at Level 10, including last spring when she finished fifth in the nation.
"They have the same body type; very lean and very graceful," Gwinn said. "They have that perfect balance of aggressiveness and dance."
The ambitious flip Baxter was working on "looked really cool," she said. But she knew as soon as she landed that she hurt her knee badly.
Fear, Baxter noted, is something all gymnasts must overcome since they are spinning, twisting and flipping in daring routines. And not always on a floor mat since some of those moves are performed on a wooden balance beam or on iron uneven bars.
"When you're flipping backwards over a 4-inch beam you have a lot of fear issues," Baxter said, adding that Gwinn "helped me get through that."
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