By MICKEY ALVARADO

It didn’t matter to Taylor Medrea that she was living in the small town of Britton, Michigan with aspiring dreams of becoming a great gymnast despite some big odds against her. Her high school doesn’t even have a gymnastics team but that didn’t stop her. She was willing to do whatever it took to get to the level she had set her sights on. With the help of teachers, friends and family, Medrea fulfilled that dream on Thursday, Nov. 12, by signing a National Letter of Intent to attend a prominent division 1 school, the University of Missouri, on a full scholarship.

“It was really the administrators that did everything,” said Taylor. “Without them I would not have been where I am today. My friends were just so supportive even though, like I said, I can’t even go to all the school functions and I can’t do anything like that. But, they’ve always tried to stay with me and be friends.”

“It just goes to show that anything is possible if you set your mind to it,” said Britton’s Athletic Director, Randy Salisbury. He added that everyone at the school has been very supportive of Taylor’s gymnastics career with some teachers even volunteering to come in early to help out. Britton-Macon even worked it out so she could leave a little earlier than school lets out to get on the road to get to practice.

Mizzou has been keeping an eye on their newest recruit for some time now during her club competitions. Medrea’s talents have stood out for many years. She’s been participating in the sport since being a little three-year-old girl and has lost count of the number of medals she’s won that are stored in a large plastic container. She won a Level 10 state floor championship this year and was a national qualifier at the same level the year before. She started racking up titles since 2004 when she was the state champion on vault and bar in level 9 AA. The very next season, she defended the bar title and was a national qualifier and also was a member of the Region 5 All-Star team that traveled to El Salvador to represent the United States. Two more state titles were earned in 2006 with Medrea placing first on floor and bars.

“You mainly get medals in gymnastics so I have a whole, huge tub full of them,” said Taylor. “I don’t even know how many I have. It’s ridiculous.”

Mizzou plans on using her at the top level of competition in the sport right from the start. She’ll be competing for them in the all-around.

“When I was in Missouri I loved it,” said Taylor. “I mean I fit in with the team, the coaches, the athletic director, everything.”

Taylor was fortunate to already have known some friends there from previous competitions she’s been in nationally, in Region 5.

“One of my teammates that signed with me I’ve known her for six years,” said Taylor. “It’s really nice too, as well.”

The commitment it takes to attain a division 1 scholarship is hard to grasp unless you’ve taken part in the many hours of practices and competition leading up to that point. Taylor’s mother, Lynette, couldn’t be sure how many miles they’ve logged over the years driving to and from gyms.

Taylor was at Gym Street USA, a gym in Saline, for three years before moving on to a gym in Lansing called Twistars, a nationally recognized club for about seven years. Then she moved to her current gym in Farmington Hills, Michigan Elite Gymnastics Academy.
“She’s a very competitive kid,” said her father, Gene. “And she’s very driven. She loves the sport. She works out 25 hours a week. You add an hour and a half drive time onto that and it’s a pretty big commitment for her to do. It’s over 30 hours total. It’s almost like a full time job.”

The Medrea’s figure they’ve spent at least three to four hours a day driving back and forth, five days a week, for many years. There are local gyms to train in but the Medreas wanted the highest possible instruction and were willing to sacrifice time and money to take her there.

“Ever since I started getting better at gymnastics I realized that maybe I could do something with it and go to a college,” said Taylor. “At my previous gym, we had a lot of college coaches come in and one was actually interested in me. He was going to keep watching me over the years. He’s actually my assistant coach now.”

And she’s a smart one, too. She’s the smartest in her class with a 3.95 Grade Point Average through her high school career. She’s been on the principal’s honor roll three straight years and it looks like it’ll wind up being a four-year sweep by the time she’s finished. She’s also a three-year National Honor Society member, belongs to DECA, and volunteers with community service projects including Toys for Tots for six years running and has been an American Red Cross Blood Drive leader for three years.

Becoming a state champion who’s recruited by the best in the country comes with many costs. She said the last few years she’s been healthier than ever but has had some serious accidents while practcing and has had to have surgery. Both of Taylor’s ankles have been broken as well as a wrist and toe.

“It’s been a rough path,” said Taylor.

While she wouldn’t give up her experiences for anything, she’s not so sure she’d get her own children involved in the sport.

“I haven’t decided if I have kids if I’ll put them in gymnastics or not,” said Taylor. “Dealing with all the stress that I had to go through, I don’t know that I’d want them to.”

She coaches at her club gym now but is more interested in becoming a physical therapist after graduating college. That’s another reason she chose Mizzou for her education.

“Mizzou has a physical therapy school on campus, which would allow me, if I get accepted, I can go to as a junior. It’s a three-year program. So I’d be a fifth year senior but I would graduate with a doctorate degree.”