The pace of the cartwheels was fast and furious at Miyagi's Gymnastics on Saturday. Slamson couldn't keep up.

The Sacramento Kings' acrobatic mascot got in on the action at the Miyagi's cartwheel-a-thon Saturday morning, but not for long. After 46 cartwheels, the lion collapsed on the mat and put a finger to his throat, indicating he could cartwheel no more.

As for Miyagi's gymnasts like Mackensi Emory and Alex Esmerian, they kept going, and going and going....

"I got a little dizzy, but I had a lot of fun," said Emory, who completed a whopping 810 cartwheels during the three-hour event. "I thought I'd do about 400 or 500. I didn't think I'd do 810."

The 10-year-old from Auburn raised more than $500 through pledges during the event, in which the Miyagi's performers easily surpassed their goal of 5,000 cartwheels overall.

Instructor Natalie Otis said the group of about 50 gymnasts completed 12,510 cartwheels to set an unofficial record for the most cartwheels completed in one day in Auburn. A previous cartwheel-a-thon at Miyagi's produced just over 5,000.

Alex Esmerian, 10, completed 781 cartwheels, second overall on the day.

Many of the kids got a thrill from meeting Slamson, who was invited to the event by a pair of Miyagi's gymnasts who had worked with the mascot at Arco Arena.

"I really liked it when Slamson came and he did his dances," Emory said. "I had a lot of fun with my teammates today."