Three-time national vault champion who trains in Wichita to join Oklahoma gymnastics
Augusta native Keira Wells has already carved out one of the most successful careers in gymnastics from the Wichita area and she’s far from done.
After graduating this spring from Augusta High School, the three-time national vault champion is set to join the Oklahoma women’s gymnastics team, the defending NCAA champions.
Competing at the highest level in collegiate gymnastics has been a dream of Wells since she was a child. It will become her new reality this winter.
“It was crazy watching them win a national championship on TV and thinking, ‘That might be me out there,’” Wells said.
Wells has earned Level 10 status as a gymnast, the highest possible level in the USA Gymnastics program, since she was 13. Many gymnasts don’t ascend to such a high level until their senior year of high school; Wells spent the last five years competing at Level 10 meets.
Diandra Milliner, a 2011 Maize graduate, was also a Level 10 gymnast from Wichita who was a vault champion at Alabama from 2011-14, while Andover Central graduate Sydney Schaffer, who currently competes for Missouri, was another Level 10 gymnast. Wells has the potential to make an immediate impact at OU, the premier collegiate program in the country.
“There are very few Level 10s in the state of Kansas, so for Wichita to have a Level 10 here and have someone who has a full-ride scholarship to the best program in the country is amazing,” said Tristian Rodriguez, owner of 316 Gymnastics, where Wells trains. “For her to get a scholarship to OU, that’s the dream of every girl in this sport. It’s unbelievable.”
While Wells is considered a top all-around gymnast, there’s no question her specialty is the vault. To be elite in the event, gymnasts must have the acceleration to sprint to the springboard, generate power by planting their hands on the apparatus and flinging themselves through the air, performing a number of somersaults and twists in quick succession to score points.
Wells’ routine is considered among the most difficult. She received a 9.825 score in the vault to win the 2019, 2021 and 2022 Junior Olympic national championships, while she earned a perfect score of 10 in the 2021 and 2023 Region 3 Championships.
“She excels in every aspect of the vault because she’s just a natural and has so much power,” Rodriguez said. “She has so much power coming off the board and off the table, it’s just crazy. She understands the dynamic of a quick change of shape and some athletes have a hard time doing that. She’s very smart about understanding what she needs to do to maximize the power that she has.”
Wells showed a natural ability in the sport when she first began training at the age of 3. Her parents, Aaron and Amy, were supportive early on and Wells developed quickly through the coaching she received at famed Folgers Gymnastics in Andover.
Once she reached high school, Wells transitioned over to 316 Gymnastics. She missed most of the 2022 season due to injury, but rehabilitated quickly and came back strongly for this past season. Wells won six of her seven Level 10 meets in the vault this year and notched three top-six finishes at the 2023 National Championships in beam (fifth), vault (sixth) and all-around (sixth).
“It took a lot of sacrifices and a lot of hard work,” said Wells, who graduated as an honor student from Augusta. “But I think all of it was definitely worth it.”
Wells said she is looking forward to seeing what she can do when she is surrounded by some of the best gymnasts in the country and pushed by one of the nation’s best coaching staffs.
“I know I still have a lot of room that I need to fulfill,” Wells said. “I’ve always been told that I haven’t come close to reaching my maxed-out level yet and I know the coaches at OU can help get me there. I want to win a national championship when I’m there.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
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