CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Thunderbird gymnastics program and head coach Scotty Bauman has announced the signing of five future Flippin' Birds on National Signing Day.
Celine Barney
Celine Barney will be staying in the same state to compete on the collegiate level, as she'll be coming to Cedar City from Riverton, Utah where she attends Riverton High School and competes for Black Diamond Sports Center.
"Celine brings incredible power on vault," Bauman said. "She is naturally gifted on that event and fun to watch because of her explosiveness. We look forward to her walking in the door and making an instant impact on the vault team. She's an outstanding student as well."
She scored a 9.450 on vault at the Black Diamond Winter Classic.
Ruby Hernandez
Ruby Hernandez will be joining the Thunderbirds from Canyon Lake, California, where she competes for SCEGA Gymnastics.
"Ruby Hernandez has been continuing to improve over the last couple years, and gets better every year," Bauman said. "She's a young lady we expect to come in and make a difference on all four events. Ruby brings a phenomenal work ethic, she's an extraordinarily hard worker and will continue to improve leaps and bounds in college."
Hernandez finished first in the all-around at the 2018 SoCal State Championships, where she also finished first on beam with a 9.55, second on bars with a 9.675, and 3rd on floor with a 9.6.
Hernandez competed at the Elite Level before turning Level 10.
SCEGA Gymnastics has a history of sending gymnasts to SUU, including current Flippin' Birds Karen Gonzalez, Madison Loomis and Madison Howlett, and former 3 time All-American Elise Wheeler.
Kayla Horton
Kayla Horton will be joining the Thunderbirds from South Jordan, Utah where she attends Bingham High School and competes for Olympus Gymnastics.
"She's a solid competitor," Bauman said. "She has great bars, beam, and floor, but her biggest impact for the Flippin' Birds should be on vault. Kayla is a very hard working athlete. She's going to bring some big numbers for us particularly on vault, but is strong on all four events."
Horton has been competing Level 10 since 2016. She's finished second in the all-around at two meets for Olympus in Level 10. Kayla finished 9th at the region 1 Championships in 2017, and qualified for the USAG Junior Olympic National Championships in 2017, where she finished 36th in the All-Around.
Kaylee Kho
Kaylee Kho, the younger sister of current Thunderbird freshman Caitlin Kho, will be joining the team from Rosemead, California. Kho attends San Gabriel High School and competes for Winner's Academy of Gymnastics.
"Kaylee Kho is a very solid, steady competitor across the board on all four events," Bauman said. "Over the last couple years as a Level 10 gymnast she's been very consistent, particularly on bars, vault and floor. She brings a good, steady level of competition to each of our lineups."
Kho finished fourth in the all-around at the 2018 SoCal State Championships, which she followed up with an eighth place finish at the 2018 Region 1 Championships.
She also qualified to the Junior Olympic National Championships and finished 27th in the all-around competition.
At Level 10, she scored highs of 9.700 on bars, 9.650 on vault, 9.575 on beam, and 9.4 on floor.
Tiffani Stufflebeam
Joining the Thunderbirds from American Fork and All-American Gymnastics, Tiffani Stufflebeam will be joining the team as an all-arounder.
"I think Tiffani is a very underrated Level 10 gymnast right now," Bauman said. "She has just started coming into her own as far as her power and how she directs that power. Tiffani is a consistent bar worker and very powerful on both floor and vault."
In her first meet as a Level 10 gymnast she placed first in the all-around at the Rocky Mountain Invitational in 2017.
Stufflebeam will join Autumn Jorgensen, Madison McBride and Megan McBride, and Karley McClain as former All-American Gymnastics competitors that will be Flippin' Birds.
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