State gymnastics champion Marissa Ashton brings momentum into senior year at Buford

Ashton won the Georgia High School Association state all-around title last season with a score of 38.975, which led Buford to the team championship. She broke numerous records as a junior, including the Buford all-around record and a GHSA record with two 10s in one meet. In her sophomore season, Ashton finished second around in the state.

“I knew I had won and so it was just like, it was awesome to know that I won and I didn’t have to walk out of the arena like in second place again,” said Ashton, who is on the Bio Gymnastics Club Team.

Ashton played a number of sports growing up, including softball through seventh grade until she decided to focus on gymnastics. She said her dad and brother pushed her to compete in her sport.

“(My brother Logan) won a lot of wrestling championships and I was like, I just want to like do the same thing,” Ashton said. “And he has his rings in his room, and I always kind of wanted to be like that.”

Ashton’s brother wrestled at Stanford University and graduated early, so he is finishing his wrestling career at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga while going to graduate school. She also has a sister going into sixth grade who plays lacrosse.

After moving her brother into school and attending a gymnastics camp at Stanford University, Ashton realized she wanted to be in California. She officially committed to the San Jose State University gymnastics team in March.

“I knew I’d fit in,” Ashton said about her visit to San Jose State University.

Ashton said it was high school gymnastics that got her excited to pursue a collegiate career. She says it was the team aspect of it that she enjoys so much, especially with their experiences going to state the past two years.

“The team this year is a lot closer and it was just a lot more fun with meets and stuff like that, just getting to hang out with them because we’re all really close,” Ashton said.

After taking second place as a team and as an individual in the state meet in 2021, Ashton almost did not return to high school gymnastics, but her competitive nature kicked in. She and the Buford team entered this past season determined to win.

“All I wanted to do through the whole season was just win state, win state, win state,” Ashton said.

Buford head coach Tyler Anne Smith described Ashton as hard-working with a big personality that lights up the room. She said she has a “never-settling” quality that keeps her drive and allows her to continuously improve.

“She’s also very, very hard-working academically, she takes super hard classes and not only does she take them, but she wants to excel in them,” Smith said.

Ashton she has taken five Advanced Placement classes so far and is taking three more her senior year, including AP Calculus, AP Environmental and AP Economics. She is planning on studying business in college.

Although Ashton has had a busy high school career with difficult classes and year-round four-hour practices, she said it has not taken away time with friends and family. Her busiest time is during the club and high school gymnastics competition seasons. This past spring, Ashton competed for 13 consecutive weekends.

Gymnastics has taught her that she can achieve any of her goals with practice. It also taught her confidence that she lacked when she was younger.

“When I was young I would get like, super, super nervous. I would feel like I was going to throw up,” she said.

As she has gotten older, Ashton said she now reminds herself that if anything happens, it’s just one four-hour meet and people make mistakes. Smith said it is her iron sharpens iron mentality that has allowed to progress as an athlete.

For her senior club season, her team will have meets in Las Vegas, Denver, Florida, Tennessee and Georgia.

As far as her routines, Ashton said her beam and vault routines will stay the same. She is working on perfecting a transition for her bar routine. For her floor routine, she is working on different passes that may alter her routine.

This will be her fifth year as a Level 10 gymnast, the highest level a gymnast can attain. Ashton said some girls do the same skills all five years, but she is changing things up this summer. She said there are so many different skills and release moves that she can change in her routines.

“If one doesn’t work for you, you can always like find something else,” Ashton said.

Her main goals for the upcoming spring are staying consistent and winning the all-around title again.

“I think she’s going to be incredibly successful,” Smith said.