Linn-Mar freshman Emma Hartzler is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school girls this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Hartzler won four gold medals at the state gymnastics meet last month in Cedar Rapids and was named the all-around champion.

Hartzler is a Level 9 gymnast and will compete at the regional meet in Fargo, N.D., on Saturday, April 15. If she is successful at the regional meet, she will qualify for the Westerns meet in Boise, Idaho, May 1-4.

Hartzler has a twin sister, Elliana, who participates in competitive cheerleading with Iowa Elite, which recently won an international championship in Orlando, Fla.

Here is our Question-&-Answer session with Emma Hartzler:

MSR: What has been your favorite individual highlight in sports?

EMMA: Winning the state Level 9 all-around title two years in a row.

MSR: What has been your favorite team highlight in sports?

EMMA: I really love the bonds and friendship that have come along with this sport. My teammates are like my second family. Honestly, I probably see them more than I do my own family each week. With all the hours we spend at the gym together and on top of that add in the time we spend together outside the gym, it adds up  fast!!!

Just because we are in different levels does not mean we aren't a team because we are. I have their backs and they have mine. Without them I definitely wouldn't be the gymnast I am today.

MSR: What are your future goals in sports?

EMMA: I hope to do gymnastics for a Division I college.

MSR: Who has had the biggest influence on your sports career?

EMMA: My parents. They are always there for me through the good and the bad. There is no way I would be where I am in gymnastics and in life without them.

MSR: What are your favorite classes in school?

EMMA: Science, especially those about the human body and how it all works.

MSR: What has been your favorite community service project?

EMMA: I don't get out too much because of my training schedule, but I really like all the community service projects I do through my church. I'm really looking forward to our mission trip this summer!