The Williams Lake Gymnastics Club joined 37 teams and hundreds of athletes in Abbotsford March 23 at the 2018 Twisters Invitational.
Fifteen lakecity gymnasts, ranging in level from Junior Olympic 1 to Junior Olympic 4, competed at the meet where they impressed their coaches at a meet which they said always tests competitors’ nerves due to its sheer size.
“It just went really well,” said WLGC JO4 coach Michaela Newberry. “It’s always tough when we’re competing against kids from the Coast who train intensive hours, but we were keeping up, for sure, which is awesome to see.”
The team’s other coach, Raeanna Brown (JO1-3), who was forced to stay home due to being sick, said she was following along with the results from home as they were happening throughout the day.
“They just blew me away,” Brown said. “I was very proud they were so confident without me there. They did awesome.”
WLGC gymnast Laura Strang, who competes in the JO2 category, was presented a special award at the meet: the Brilliant Beam Award, for her beam routine where she garnered a gold score. She also claimed silver in her floor routine.
“I was surprised,” Strang said. “But really happy and excited. I just tried to stay tight and have my toes pointed in my beam routine, which helped my result. It was a good meet, and I had a lot of fun.”
Teammate Kalli Campbell, who is in the JO4 level, said it was a fun, challenging competition.
“It was a really hard competition, but I’m proud of how I did due to the circumstances,” she said. “There were more than 60 kids in my division.”
Campbell scored an 8.183 on vault, a 8.783 on beam, a 8.9 on bars, and 8.675 on floor and was fourth all around.
Ava Johnson, in the JO1 category, picked up gold in vault, silver on bars, silver on beam and gold on floor.
“I think I could’ve even done a bit better but it was one of the hardest competitions of the year,” Johnson said. “I did get a lot better than last year, so I’m happy about that.’
Marajade Goertz, who is in the JO3 division, enjoyed the camaraderie.
“It was really fun to see all the different levels compete and how everyone did,” Goertz said.
Ella McDonald, JO2 gymnast, said all the team’s hard work is paying off.
“I think I did really well, and me and everyone worked really ahrd on it and it was really cool to see everyone competing,” McDonald said.
The team is now gearing up for the Prince George Invitational, coupled with the Zone 8 Championships, from May 5-6.
The rest of the results from the Twisters Invitational are as follows:
Junior Olympic 1
• Ariana Dyck: vault (silver), bars (bronze), beam (silver), floor (gold)
• Ava Johnson: vault (gold), bars (silver), beam (silver), floor (gold)
• Cali MacKinnon: vault (gold), bars (silver), beam (gold), floor (gold)
• Chloe Boucher: vault (gold), bars (silver), beam (gold), floor (silver)
• Jana Schreve: vault (gold), bars (silver), beam (silver), floor (silver)
• Madyson Couture: vault (silver), bars (silver), beam (silver), floor (gold)
• Raquel Tomelin: vault (silver), bars (silver), beam (silver), floor (silver)
• Ella McDonald: vault (gold), bars (silver), beam (silver), floor (silver)
• Isabelle McMath: vault (gold), bars (silver), beam (silver), floor (silver)
Junior Olympic 2
• Laura Strang: vault (gold), bars (silver), beam (gold, Brilliant Beam Award), floor (silver)
• Mackenzi Johnson: vault (gold), bars (gold), beam (gold), floor (gold)
Junior Olympic 3
• Marajade Goertz: vault (9.033), beam (8.9), bars (9.0), floor (7.966), all around (ninth)
Junior Olympic 4
• Emily Swan: vault (8.233), beam (7.316), bars (8.766), floor (8.2), all around (11th)
• Kalli Campbell: vault (8.183), beam (8.783), bars (8.9), floor (8.675), all around (fourth)
• Nya Chutskoff: vault (7.775), beam (8.316), bars (8.016), floor (8.625), all around (10th)
