2018 Team Kentucky Artistic Gymnastics

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Coaches

Head Coach Mary Fehrenbach, of Lexington, will be making her fourth trip to the USA Games as the Team Kentucky gymnastics head coach. Fehrenbach, the 2011 Special Olympics North America Coach of the Year, has been the Team Kentucky coach at each of the previous USA Games and her teams have won a whopping 42 medals in those Games. She has also served as the head gymnastics coach for Team USA at a number of Special Olympics World Games events and produced similar results. Having coached in both Virginia and Kentucky, she has been a Special Olympics coach for 25 years. In addition to the 2006, 2010 and 2014 USA Games, Fehrenbach is a veteran of the 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, where she also served as a Gymnastics coach. In addition to Gymnastics, Fehrenbach has coached multiple Special Olympics cheerleading squads. Her work with the Legacy Showcats in Lexington helped pave the way for special needs cheerleading programs throughout the United States.

She works as a freelance sign-language interpreter.

Assistant Coach Coleen Blakeney, of Erlanger, has been a Special Olympics coach for 18 years. She has been coaching artistic gymnastics for seven, and has coached rhythmic gymnastics for 14 years. A USA Gymnastics and AAU certified professional coach, Blakeney leads the Special Olympics Spirit Gymnastics team in northern Kentucky. She has also coached Special Olympics track and field and cheerleading. In addition to her Special Olympics coaching work, Blakeney has coached elementary school and local youth organization cheerleading squads. She is the mother of Team Kentucky gymnast Danielle Blakeney.

This will be Blakeney’s first coaching experience at a USA or World Games. She works for Meijer.

Athletes

	Danielle Blakeney, of Erlanger, is one of Kentucky’s most decorated Special Olympics athletes at the USA and World Games level. She competed in artistic gymnastics at the 2010 USA Games in Lincoln, Neb., and in rhythmic gymnastics at the 2014 USA Games in New Jersey. She was also part of the Special Olympics USA rhythmic gymnastics teams at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens in 2011 and Los Angeles in 2015. In 2010, Blakeney won gold in the rhythmic all-around as well as in ball, clubs and ribbon. She also earned a silver in hoop. At the 2014 USA Games, Blakeney claimed three artistic gymnastics golds, including in beam, vault and floor exercise and won silver in the all-around. At the 2011 World Games, she won three gold medals, including the all-around, one silver and a bronze. In Los Angeles in 2015 she added another all-around gold in rhythmic gymnastics, as well as gold in the ball, silver in ribbon and bronze in clubs. Blakeney, 26, has been a Special Olympics athlete for 18 years and has trained in artistic gymnastics for six. She has also competed in cheerleading and track and field. She is an excellent public speaker and has appeared many times on behalf of Special Olympics Kentucky.
	Tonya Cornett, of Lexington, is the veteran of the Team Kentucky gymnastics delegation. She has been a Special Olympics athlete for 26 years and has competed in artistic gymnastics for 22 of them. She has also competed in swimming, rhythmic gymnastics and cheerleading. Cornett, 46, will be making her second trip to a major Special Olympics competition, and first to the USA Games. She also competed in rhythmic gymnastics at the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin, Ireland, where she earned one silver medal in the all-around competition as well as three individual event bronze medals. Cornett is a Special Olympics leader in every way. A trained Global Messenger, she has spoken on behalf of the organization countless times. She served a term as the athlete representative on the Special Olympics Kentucky Board. As a member of the Lexington Showcats, gymnastics and cheerleading teams, Cornett has regularly assisted her coaches, serving as a valued mentor to younger and less experience team members. Cornett is also an outstanding singer and has performed the National Anthem before numerous Special Olympics Kentucky events.
	Lee Dockins, of Russellville, has won more World Games medals than any athlete in Special Olympics Kentucky history. Dockins, 30, is a veteran of the 2007 World Summer Games in Shanghai, China, the 2011 Games in Athens and the 2015 Games in Los Angeles, competing in artistic gymnastics at all three. This will also be the third USA Games for Dockins. She competed in artistic gymnastics at the first USA Games in Ames, Iowa, and the 2014 Games in New Jersey. At the 2007 World Games, Dockins won gold medals in the floor exercise and vault as well as a silver in the uneven bars on her way to a fourth-place finish in the all-around. She followed that up in 2011 with a five-medal performance that included gold in the all-around, beam and floor exercises, another silver in the uneven bars and a bronze in vault. She defended her all-around title in 2015 with another gold medal, as well as winning gold again in the beam and floor exercise. She also scored a bronze medal in uneven bars. At the 2006 USA Games, Dockins earned five medals with four silvers, including sivler in the all-around. In 2014, Dockins won a pair of gold medals in the vault and uneven bars. One judge called the bars routine the best she had ever seen. Dockins added two more silver medals and a bronze. Dockins has been a Special Olympics athlete for 20 years and has competed in gymnastics at various levels for 24. In addition to artistic gymnastics, she competes in rhythmic gymnastics. She has also competed in track and field and bowling. She works as a coach and instructor with Logan County Gymnastics.
	Jennifer Rhein, of Ludlow, has been a Special Olympics athlete since 2010, competing in rhythmic gymnastics and cheerleading in addition to artistic gymnastics. She will be making her first ever trip to a USA or World Games event. Rhein, 26, competes out of the Spirit Gymnastics program in Northern Kentucky.
	Aliya White, of Lexington, at just 12-years-old will be the youngest member of Team Kentucky at the 2018 USA Games. She has been a Special Olympics athlete for four years, competing in artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and cheerleading. While this will be her first time competing at a USA or World Games-level event, it won’t be her first time traveling to one. Her Legacy Showcats cheerleading squad made the trip to Los Angeles for the 2015 World Summer Games to cheer on their fellow athletes. Born in Khazakhstan, White was adopted at the age of four by Greg and Wilma White. She attends Wellington Elementary School in Lexington.