THOMASVILLE — History was made in the Thomasville Bulldogs athletics program Saturday. The gymnastics team competed in its first meet in Moultrie against five other schools. 

It was a history-making performance for a first-year program that consisted of  senior Ava White, junior Mary Grace Crowley, junior Johnna Higdon, sophomore Arcinia Martinez and freshman Erin Gannt.

“They did really, really well,” gymnastics coach Carson Singletary said. “I was really proud of how they went out there and just gave it their all, not really knowing what to expect. None of them had ever competed in high school gymnastics before. I’ve never coached high school gymnastics before. It was an experience for all of us. I have 10 years of coaching gymnastics before but I’ve never done high school. They went out there and gave it their best.”

The high school meet has the traditional four events; vault, high bar, beam and floor exercise. While the team failed to finish in the top three, its competitiveness is what Singletary is most proud of.

“We had some falls, but everybody got right back up and kept going. They all left with a smile on their face. They all performed to the best of their abilities,” Singletary said. “There are four events in gymnastics. You can’t harp on a mistake. You’ve just got to get up and keep pushing. All of our athletes have incredible attitudes. They all our positive to each other, not only their teammates but the people they competed against.”

All five of Thomasville’s gym ‘Dogs have gymnastics backgrounds. Gannt currently competes for the Thomasville Twisters, the YMCA competition team. White, who moved to Thomasville from Moultrie, competed for the Moultrie YMCA team for about 10 years. Crowley was also a Thomasville Twister for several years. Martinez was also a member of the Twister squad at one time, as was Higdon.

Thomasville will compete again next Saturday in Milledgeville.