Wearing the John Stark red, white and blue, Kayla Parcells, entering her first meet of the season as an independent competitor, served notice to the rest of the New Hampshire gymnastics landscape.

Parcells beat Central standout Ainsley Smith, whom she trains with at Granite State Gymnastic Center in Bow, by a tenth of a point, 33.55 to 33.45, to win the competition at Pinkerton Academy on Monday, Dec. 17.

Even though she admitted the result was surprising, Parcells said the formula for winning is simple.

“Just be confident and maintain a positive attitude the whole time,” she said. “Even though some stuff I didn’t do as well as I thought I could do, you just have to keep going and move on to the next event. Knowing I won today, it gives me a better mindset going forward and, I guess, helps me be more relaxed for the rest of the season.”

As independent competitors, Parcells and fellow John Stark gymnast Ashley Reade must compete in four events – vault, beam, floor exercise and uneven bars – to qualify for a chance at the state championship.

Reade, who by her own admission had an off day, finished with 28.85 points. Her best event was the vault; she scored 7.85.

Coach Kristen Paradis, who praised Parcells’ performance, said she fully expects Reade to bounce back and contend at the next competition.

“It’s gymnastics,” she said. “It’s a different thing every day. Somebody can hit it and somebody is going to crash, and it could be the same person each day. It could be a different person each day. As long as they’re having fun doing it, then that’s fine. Everything’s good.”

The only other local to compete at the event was Trinity’s Emily Hinton of Goffstown, who scored a 28.2, including an 8.6 on vault.