Claire Ann Boyce (born April 25, 1995, in

St Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

) is a retired American collegiate artistic gymnast. She competed for the

Florida Gators women's gymnastics The Florida Gators women's gymnastics team represents the University of Florida in the sport of artistic gymnastics, gymnastics. The team competes in Division I (NCAA), Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the S ...

team from 2013 to 2017.

Early life

Claire Ann Boyce was born on April 25, 1995, in St Louis, Missouri, to parents, David and Kimberly Boyce. She has two brothers, Brian and Luke. She started gymnastics classes at the age of two and a half, in 1998, at

Great American Gymnastics Express Great American Gymnastics Express, known also as GAGE Center or GAGE, is an American artistic gymnastics academy, located in Blue Springs, Missouri. GAGE was founded in 1979 by its present-day owner and head coach, Al Fong. Notable alumni Amon ...

. Later, she moved to Diamond Gymnastics and then, in 2005, at the age of ten, she moved to

Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States. It is a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, located in Central Oklahoma. Its population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States census, a 16% increase from 2010. maki ...

, and started training at Dynamo Gymnastics. A year later, Boyce was fourth at the 2006 Level 9 Westerns.

Club gymnastics career

2007–09 Level 10 career, Junior International Elite at GAGE

Claire transitioned to Level 10 for the 2007 season; at the age of eleven. She was sixth at States and second at Regionals during the season. At Nationals, she placed fifth in the all-around. Boyce qualified to Junior International Elite status at the May National Elite Qualifier at the

Karolyi Ranch The USA Gymnastics National Team Training Center at Karolyi Ranch or simply Karolyi Ranch in unincorporated Walker County, Texas, southeast of Huntsville, was a gymnastics camp facility which was the site of the main training center for the Unit ...

. Later in the month, Boyce participated at the American Classic which was, again, held at the Karolyi Ranch. She placed fifth. In March 2008, Claire's family moved back to

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

and so therefore, she started training at

again. In 2009, Boyce qualified to Junior International Elite status at the Palm Beach Invitational. Boyce won floor at the American Classic. Later, at the U.S. Classic, Claire finished twenty-second in the all-around. She earned a qualification spot to U.S. Nationals. At Nationals, Boyce finished seventeenth after two days of competition. In addition, she placed fourth on floor exercise; missing the bronze medal by just 0.050 points.

2010–11: International Elite career at Texas Dreams

On March 2, 2010, her personal website announced that she had moved to

Texas Dreams Gymnastics Texas Dreams Gymnastics is a gymnastics training facility located in Coppell, Texas. It is owned by 1991 world champion and 1992 Olympics bronze medalist Kim Zmeskal. History Texas Dreams opened on November 26, 2001, and has produced state, r ...

Coppell, Texas Coppell ( ) is a city in the northwest corner of Dallas County in the U.S. state of Texas. It is a suburb of Dallas and a bedroom community in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its population was 42,983 at the 2020 census. A small area in th ...

, training under Chris and Kim Zmeskal-Burdette. In June, she participated in the Arizona Elite Qualifier and finished second in the all-around; tying with Jaclyn McCartin. A month later, Boyce competed at the National Elite Qualifier but competed only two events. At the CoverGirl Classic, Boyce placed tenth in the all-around. Her performances at the previous Arizona Elite Qualifier had secured her a qualification spot to Nationals already. At Nationals, following a rough competition, Boyce was twenty-seventh in the all-around. Early in the season, Boyce was fourth at the Texas Prime Meet. Later, she finished second in the WOGA Classic. In June, she won the Disney National Elite Qualifier and advanced to Senior International Elite status but, however, she was sidelined for most of the season with a back injury. On September 14, 2011, CollegeGymFans.com announced her verbal commitment to the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

and the

team.

2012–13: Level 10 career

After struggling with back issues, Claire decided to drop down to Level 10 for both the 2012 and 2013 seasons. In 2012, she was third at States and second at Regionals. At Nationals, she was the all-around champion for the Senior A division. On November 12, 2012, Claire signed the

National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

to the Florida Gators program. In 2013, she competed two invitationals but didn't compete once during the Championship season.

College gymnastics career

2014 season: Freshman

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyce, Claire Florida Gators women's gymnasts 1995 births American female artistic gymnasts University of Florida alumni Living people 21st-century American sportswomen