By Heather Van Horne
The 2019 Terrace Peaks Invitational saw gymnasts from Prince Rupert, Terrace, Kitimat, Smithers and Burns Lake compete over the weekend of March 1 to 3, ending with a training camp on Sunday.
The competition began Friday night with Kitimat’s women’s Interclub members Chloe Bonneau, Emily Furtado, Eve Laberge, Madison Mayer, Tylee Pacheco Maddi Rego, Sara Rutsatz and Sofia Sulentich showing off their hard work.
They completed routines not for scores, but for the joy of performance.
Taya Pacheco competed in the Performance Plus division, earning herself a gold standing on vault, beam and floor with silver on bars, for a silver overall.
“The girls worked super hard in developing their routines and it was exciting to see it all come together for the Terrace competition,” said Coach Desiree Earl.
Saturday morning had gymnasts up bright and early for the Junior Olympic level 3 session. Gabriella Michaluk earned the gold medal all around for gymnasts born 2008-2009 with her high score on floor.
Madelyn Vilness competed in the same division and, when asked her favourite event, she said “floor!”
For gymnasts born 20010- 2011 Hannah Van Horne earned the silver spot all around with her top score on the floor.
In the same division Jamie Loucks earned the bronze all around with her high score on floor. Addison Pitzel won the gold medal on bars with a solid routine and the fourth spot all around.
The third session had our highest level of gymnasts competing.
Maggie Baker had a best ever competition with high scores on all events finishing first all around in the JO 6 women’s category!
“This will really help her confidence going into Provincial Championships next month,” said Head Coach Angela Pitzel.
Mya Anthony, in JO 7, finished at the top of her group coming first all around with golds on vault and floor and silvers on bars and beam.
The final session on Saturday had our youngest girls competing in JO levels 1 and 2. The girls were able to become familiar with the competition process alongside teammates and coaches in a fun and positive environment.
In JO 1 Zoe Girard, Danica Best, Quinn Rachao-Finn and Taylor Aspen all earned a silver medal standing.
JO 2 brought four of our gymnasts; Ella Brodie, Teija Barker, Morgan Correira, Abby DeSousa and Ellah Ramos-Gadbois, to a silver medal standing overall.
All girls were solid on vault, earning a gold standing on that event.
‘This was the first time competing for some of the girls, while others recently moved up. They really impressed us with great results and success,” added Pitzel.
Sunday morning brought the men’s competition – the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) session included ten gymnasts from the region, with six coming from Kitimat.
In their first Interclub competitions, Marcus Klassen had an exceptional performance on high bar and parallel bars, while Declan Popp led the field with an excellent floor routine.
For the Provincial Pathway stream, Philippe Martel placed first on high bar and the pommel horse. Michael Michaluk and Keiran Koza, in their first year competing the Provincial Pathway, just barely missed the podium on parallel bars, vault and pommel horse.
William Kaines, with his best performance of the year, placed first on vault and rings. The Terrace competition and training camp on Sunday afternoon allowed the boys to perfect their routines before the upcoming Provincial Championships in April. We are all very proud of the hard work these athletes and coaches have put in. We wish the Kitimat Dynamics the best as they compete at the Provincial Championships in Langley next month!
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