Plano East graduate Liam DeWeese high-fives a coach after a successful attempt in the vault at the USA Gymnastics Development Program National Championships in Sandy, Utah. Submitted photo
By Dvid Wolman
Plano East alum Liam DeWeese has reached the top of mountain in club gymnastics.
Competing in the USA Gymnastics Development Program National Championships from May 9-11 at the Mountain America Exposition Center in Sandy, Utah, DeWeese won the national title in the vault and captured third place in the floor exercise at the Junior National Level 10 Club Team Division.
“It felt amazing to get first place,” he said. “I had always fallen short of my goals in past years. It was something that stuck to my head. This year, I was determined to make sure that didn’t happen.”
The club team that DeWeese competes for, Texas Dreams Gymnastics, won the national title in the Junior National Level 10 Club Team Division. Texas Dreams tallied a team score of 237.55 points. They finished first out of 102 teams.
The scores of the top three individual finishers in each of the six events – floor exercise, vault, pommel horse, still rings, high bar and parallel bars – counted towards the final team score at nationals.
“The team is really, really stacked up with good gymnasts,” DeWeese said. “Obviously, a lot of gyms have a lot of talent. It’s the way that they work. It really stands out. I think that’s what helped us to get the team victory.”
The first-place finish for Texas Dreams comes one year after they placed fourth at nationals.
“I think that everyone took it really hard last year, so we took a different approach this year,” DeWeese said. “Instead of focusing on the team goals, we focused on our individual goals and tried to dial in on how those individual goals would contribute to the team.”
DeWeese competed for a different club before joining Texas Dreams Gymnastics shortly after the conclusion of last year’s nationals.
He felt that he “didn’t do terribly” at last year’s nationals, but he admitted that “I took it pretty hard. It wasn’t easy to stomach.”
Prior to nationals, he suffered a back injury. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to compete at nationals. However, he still ended up qualifying, which DeWeese said felt like an accomplishment in itself.
Although he was able to give it his all at nationals, DeWeese felt that something needed to change.
During that same summer, DeWeese decided to leave his former club and join Texas Dreams. He knew that the drive from his house to Texas Dreams, located in Coppell, was 30 minutes without traffic. But he had been competing against that organization for several years, so he knew of their success.
“Texas Dreams is known for being good at the basics,” he said. “They didn’t do crazy hard skills, but when they did compete in skills, it was perfect. It was the change that I need. The biggest difference that I have from last year to this year is my skill level and my confidence. I worked, trained and I succeeded.”
Two weeks prior to this year’s nationals, DeWeese injured his finger and was only able to compete in two events: floor exercise and vault.
The pain didn’t stop his determination.
Once the top 10 finishers in the vault were called up to the podium for the awards ceremony, he admitted that he got a little emotional.
“I admit that I did cry on the podium while we were saluting (the crowd),” he said. “It was just a really big thing for me.”
DeWeese will compete for the University of California-Berkeley men’s gymnastics team, starting the fall, along with his Texas Dreams Gymnastics teammate, Davide Comparin.
“I’m excited to have (Comparin) there in California,” DeWeese said. “It’s going to be awesome.”
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