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Kitimat gymnasts - bringing home the bling from Terrace

All the results
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JO 1 Team is Baylee Grinceri, Abby De Sousa, Kendall Grinceri, Avery Van Horne and Morgan Correia. Photos supplied

The Kitimat Dynamics Gymnastics Club sent 35 gymnasts from their Competitive and Interclub teams to the Terrace Peaks Invitational held March 3 and 4 to compete against teams from Smithers, Prince Rupert and Terrace.

The competition started bright and early Saturday morning with women’s artistic gymnastics (WAG). In Junior Olympic level 3 (JO 3), Kitimat had gymnasts competing in three age levels.

For girls born in 2008, Maina Audy-Bilodeau came seventh overall. Her top finish was a fifth on vault with a 9.35.

For gymnasts born in 2009, Gabriella Michaluk placed second overall. Her top finish was first on vault with a 9.2.

For gymnasts born in 2010 and 2011, Addison Pitzel placed seventh overall. Her top finish was a fifth on vault with an 8.9. Jamie Loucks placed fourth overall. Her top finish was a third on bars. Hannah Van Horne placed first overall, with a first on beam with a 9.375.

In the next session, the high level WAG gymnasts competed. In JO 6, Lily Sherman and Maggie Baker represented Kitimat. Lily earned the gold medal and Maggie earned the 6th place ribbon in the all-around.

Both girls finished on the podium in the floor event, with the silver medal going to Lily and the bronze to Maggie. In JO 7, Mya Anthony earned gold medal on floor with a 9.475.

Mya earned the first place spot in the all-round. In JO 8, Melissa Yeoh finished first all-around and Brooklyn Wojciechowski finished second.

Their top scores were on floor with Melissa earning 9.075 and the gold medal and Brooklyn earning a 9.0 and the silver. Melissa and Brooklyn will be attending The Abbotsford Twisters Invitational later this month.

The final session on Saturday had the youngest gymnasts competing in JO 1. This was the first competition for most of these girls and they did fantastically! The younger gymnasts in JO 1 compete against a set standard and not each other.

Abby De Sousa is new to gymnastics this year and performed very well. She earned a silver standing overall, with 9.05 and a gold on floor.

Morgan Correia earned a silver overall and was consistent earning silvers across all events. Her top finish was an 8.5 on vault. Twins, Baylee and Kendall Grinceri, both earned silver overall with their top scores on vault with an 8.7 and 8.8 respectively. Avery Van Horne earned a bronze overall with her top finish being vault with an 8.4.

Sunday’s events included Men’s Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) and Women’s and Men’s Interclub Performances.

In MAG level 1 Kitimat had Raphael Audy-Bilodeau, William Kaines and Phillipe Martel competing. They all finished with a silver all around. Raphael top score was an 8.6 on Pommel horse for silver, William’s top score was an 8.80 on floor for silver and Phillipe’s top score was a 9.45 on vault for gold.

Kitimat also had its men’s and women’s Interclub teams perform. The Interclub program provides a training framework and offers opportunities for athletes to attend sanctioned events, at which they perform gymnastics routines to showcase personal ability. The program is performance centered and focuses on the opportunity for gymnasts to perform and take pride in personal athletic achievement. (http://www.playgymnastics.com/club/interclub/) Over the last two years Kitimat has expanded its Interclub program to allow more athletes to have the opportunity to perform in a competition setting.

In Men’s Interclub Performance Plus, Keiran Koza and Michael Michaluk performed. Both young men earned a gold standing all around. Coach Ryan Cochrane said “Michael did great on floor and Keiran did great on vault.”

In Women’s Interclub Performance Ella Brodie, Audrey Collier, Addison Hecklley, Eve Laberge, Madison Mayer, Taya Pacheco, Tylee Pacheco, Ellah Ramos-Gadbois, Maddi Rego, Sara Faith Rutsatz, Sofia Sulentich and Paige Wilson performed for Kitimat.

When asked about her favourite part of the weekend Audrey Collier said “being able to compete with my friends and performing my floor routine.”

Floor was also a favourite for another Interclub gymnast, Ellah Ramos-Gadbois, who said: “Floor was my favourite event and I learned my routine in only two weeks.”

Sara Faith Rutsatz said: “I liked seeing what a different gym looked like. I enjoy performing, so I like that part and I really like seeing all of our hard work pay off.”

In Women’s Performance Plus, Dayle Gust, Sharlie Hedberg, Kaydence Medeiros and Aimee Parish all earned a gold overall. Of the event Aimee Parish said: “My favourite event was bars because I performed my dismount that I’ve had a hard time with in practice, but it came together for the competition.”

Head Coach Angela Pitzel said “The Kitimat girls and boys really held their own. They went out with confidence with goals set and met. I was proud to watch how determined they were. They came out with some fantastic scores. They have now set new goals to get ready for the next competition here in Kitimat on April 21 at MEMSS.”

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Phillipe Martel on the parallel bars.
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Sara Faith Rutsatz on the balance beam.