Incoming Hollidaysburg Area High School sophomore Andrew Neatrour has made his mark in this country as an elite Junior Division gymnast who earned a spot on the USA Gymnastics Junior National Team last year.

Neatrour, 15, has been spending the past year trying to make his mark on the international level as well.

Neatrour earned fifth place in the tumbling competition at an international meet in Portugal July 3-6, and also qualified for the World Age Group Championships in two of his events — tumbling and the double mini — this coming Nov. 13-16 in Pamplona, Spain.

Neatrour punched his ticket to the World Championships in Spain by meeting qualifying requirements and finishing among the top competitors in three events over the past several months. Those events included the Winter Classic in Battle Creek, Mich. in March, the Elite Challenge in Jacksonville, Fla. in May, and the USA Gymnastics Nationals in Providence, R.I. in June.

“The best scores from two of those three qualifying meets are counted,” Neatrour’s father, Duke, said of the requirements for the World Championships.

Andrew Neatrour is looking forward to the opportunity to compete in Spain.

“I’m very excited for the opportunity,” Andrew Neatrour said. “The one in which I competed in Portugal was also a world competition, but it wasn’t as big as this one in Spain is going to be. I’m a little bit nervous, but at the same time, I know what I am able to do. I have the training for it, so I just want to go out and have fun.”

Andrew Neatrour said that maintaining an even keel has been important for him.

“My thoughts (at the qualifying competitions) involved telling myself to not even think about the scores that I would need in order to get to Spain,” said Andrew Neatrour, who pointed out that his two best performances in the three qualifiers were accomplished at the Elite Challenge in Jacksonville and the USA Championships in Rhode Island. “I just tried to stay in my zone, stay focused, not think about the future, and stay in the moment.

“I knew that if I thought too much about the scores, I would get worried and not perform how I wanted to perform,” Andrew Neatrour added.

Andrew Neatrour was also thrilled to qualify for the Coimbra World Cup and Gym Fest international competition in Coimbra, Portugal earlier this month, after achieving qualifying requirements for the event in tumbling at both the Winter Classic and Elite Challenge.

While he has always excelled in the double mini — an event which involves a small trampoline and jumps that are scored according to degree of difficulty — Andrew Neatrour’s marked improvement in tumbling has been impressive, as was reflected in his fifth-place finish in that event at the Portugal international meet.

“Compared to last year and even just the beginning of this year, I can see when I’ve watched my videos that I’ve made a huge improvement in tumbling, and I’m really proud of myself for that,” Andrew Neatrour said. “I’ve been breaking things down into increments and trying to perfect the small things to make my performance better in the end.

“I wasn’t worried so much about the results (at Portugal) because it was my first international competition, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect,” Andrew Neatrour said. “I ended up fifth individually and the USA Team placed second there.”

Duke Neatrour pointed out that the fifth-place international finish for his son in tumbling was a good accomplishment.

“He’s really accelerated and improved in tumbling over the last year,” Duke Neatrour said. “When you’re competing internationally, fifth place is a pretty big deal.”

Andrew Neatrour does his gymnastics training at the Centre Elite Gymnastics facility in State College, under the direction of his long-time coach there, Elizabeth Aceto.

Andrew is due to advance from the elite Junior Division to the elite Senior Division status in gymnastics next Jan. 1.

“I’m very proud of Andrew and the progress that he has made in his mindset to accomplish what he has done so far,” Aceto said. “This new season will be his first year competing on the senior elite level in his two events. When you reach senior elite in gymnastics you have reached the highest level of the sport, and there are no limits on the difficulty of the skills required in the competitions.

“This is just the start for Andrew, and he is gaining amazing experience being able to compete on international assignment,” Aceto said.

Expenses required for Andrew to travel to his various competitions as a junior elite competitor are formidable, but both Andrew and his father expressed their gratitude to two local businesses — the L.S. Fiore organization and the local McDonald’s franchise — for being among the generous corporate sponsors that have helped to defray the costs.

“With international assignments and training camps come a pretty significant financial commitment, not only for Andrew to attend but also for his coach and his family,” Aceto said.

Aceto said that any support is welcome and if any businesses are interested in supporting Andrew that they should contact her or his parents directly. Interested donors can email hipointperformance@gmail.com.

Making it to the final round of the World competition in Spain this November is now on Andrew’s radar.

“They take the top eight scores in each event to the finals, so my personal goals will include doing what I need to do in my routines to make it to the finals,” Andrew said. “I owe a lot of thanks to my parents (his father Duke and his mother Julie), as well as to my coaches and everybody else who has assisted me in getting to where I am now.”