Tara Catour was born on May 5, 1998. She is the daughter of Randy and Beth Catour. She has an older brother, Brandon, and an older sister, Stefani. Stefani is also a gymnast. Tara trains at Desert Lights Gymnastics.
Tara began competing in 2006 as a level five. Her first meet was the Winter Sun Invitational. Tara steadily improved throughout the season competing at the Flagstaff Winter Classic, Fiesta Bowl Invitational, and the Hard Rock Invitational. In the fall, she greatly improved her scores. She placed second on bars and third on balance beam, floor exercise and in the all-around at the School Days Invitational. At the Halloween Invitational she finished second on floor. Tara had a great meet at the Fall State Championships. Her all-around scored improved by almost two points.
A few months later, Tara began competing level six. She competed at the Winter Sun Invitational and Hard Rock Invitational. She finished second on beam at the Shamrock Invitational. At the Fiesta Bowl, Tara took home two bronze medals, one on bars and the other on beam. Tara finished second all-around! She won beam and finished second on floor at the Tucson Invitational. She competed at the Spring State Championships.
In the fall season, Tara finished second all-around at the School Days Invitational. She won beam and floor. At the PGA Invitational, she finished second on floor and third all-around. Tara won a silver medal on floor at the Rock-n-Roll Classic. At the Halloween meet, she took home her first uneven bars title. Her final level six meet was the State Championships. She finished second on bars and in the all-around. She won floor! She also qualified to National TOPs Testing in 2007.
Tara competed one level seven meet in 2008. Unfortunately, she broke her ankle in February. This caused her to miss her level seven season. She worked hard following surgery to come back to compete level eight in 2009. In January, she finished third on vault and floor at the Winter Sun Invitational. She finished fifth all-around at the San Diego Classic. She won floor at the Hard Rock Invitational. She finished second all-around at States. She also placed second on bars and floor. At Regionals, she finished fourth on vault. Tara qualified to hopes elite at the Desert Lights Elite Qualifier. She competed in the US Challenge. At the end of September, Tara made the TOPs National "A" Team.
In 2010, Tara finished third in the all-around at the Winter Sun Invitational. She then finished fifth in the all-around at the san Diego Classic and Fiesta Bowl Invitational. At the Long Beach Open, Tara won a gold medal on floor exercise and a silver medal on uneven bars. Tara placed fifth in the all-around, first on uneven bars and second on floor exercise at the Malibu Coast Challenge. At the Level 9 Arizona State Championships, Tara won the all-around title with a 37.325. She also won three gold medals on vault, balance beam and floor exercise. She qualified to the Level 9 Western National Championships after finishing fifth in the all-around at the Level 9 Regionals. At the Level 9 western Nationals in Des Moines, Iowa, Tara finished impressive fifth overall out of 24 gymnasts. She also won a bronze medal on floor exercise.
Tara began competing level ten in 2011. She finished second on floor at the National Judges Cup.
Photos © DL & Catour Family
