The loud clanking of medals and proud cheers from parents filled the spacious confines inside GymSouth Sunday afternoon during the final day of the Mardi Gras Classic meet.

The last sessions began at 3 p.m. and lasted until awards were announced at 5, with bleachers stuffed with relatives, friends and community members that literally filled the gym to the rafters.

The three-day meet, which featured more than 400 competitors from Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana, concluded with Levels 2 and 3 competing in the floor, beam, vault and bars.

Vicksburg native Olivia Scallions won the overall award for Level 2 in her first year as a competitive gymnast. Scallions stood atop the podium after placing first in bars, floor and beam to win the top prize.

“She usually places at every meet, but this is her first first place in three categories and first place overall,” Olivia’s mother Tiffany said. “I was really proud.”

Scallions’ GymSouth teammate Emma Sharpe also placed Sunday, finishing fifth overall in the meet.

“It was cool,” Sharpe said. “Probably floor is my favorite, because I’m not off the ground. It was fun.”

The two girls’ performances finished a 40-person session that ended the largest Mardi Gras Classic since GymSouth began the meet in 2010.

“It’s a great feeling knowing that we put on a great meet and that so many people have come in and been so happy and excited to be here,” GymSouth owner Cherry Robbins said. “They tell us what a fun meet we have, and this is just exactly what we aim to do every time we put this meet on.”

Robbins spent much of her time bustling between the floor and her office in the back, keeping tabs on every participant and making sure everything went according to plan — from the music to the medal ceremony at the end of each session. But she said she knows the meet would not be nearly as successful as it has been without the help of a dedicated team of workers and parents.

“This meet could not go on and be as successful as it is without the parents and team members that work all week, plus all weekend,” she said. “My other gym parents also bring in chips and Cokes and waters for the concession stand items so that we don’t have to purchase them.”

As the day drew to a close, Robbins reflected on the impact of the weekend and how much the meet means to her and the hundreds of girls who travel from sometimes hundreds of miles away to be a part of it.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” she said. “I’m a little teary-eyed because it makes me very, very happy that this meet is such a success and that people enjoy it so much. This is what we mean to do when we do this event.”