The Campbell River Gymnastics Association (CRGA) sent 10 girls last weekend to the provincial championships held in Langely.
All the best gymnasts in the province attend this competition and the CRGA girls could measure up against the best of them.
Campbell River started out the competition with their Level 2 Argo athletes. Rebecca Tazumi and Mackenzie Henderson performed well in a field of close to 50 athletes. Henderson was able to land her back walkover on beam for the first time in competition and showed much improvement in her all around score to finish 25th in the all around. Tazumi had a big vault talking a few extra steps on the landing to finish fourth. Henderson also finished ninth on the bars and 18th in the all around.
The next competition featured Campbell River’s Level 2 Novice athletes. Katie Lund lead the way with consistent and strong performances on all her apparatus. Lund finished 16th in the all around with her best finish being on the bars where she placed 11th.
Mackenzie Johnson, attending her first provincials, came in the competition with some new skills. She performed a back layout off the uneven bars for the first time and a backwalkover on the beam.
Johnson’s best finish was an 11th place finish on the floor.
Faith Barton toughed out a rip she got in warm up on the bars and a second rip on her other hand during the competition.
Barton did not fare so well but her powerful vault was able to capture the team’s first medal of the weekend with a second place finish.
Next were the Level 3 athletes. All three girls had great performances.
Melissa MacAdam had a strong floor and vault to finish fourth on both of those events. MacAdam finished seventh in the all around.
Kyra Boulding had a solid bar routine bringing home a bronze medal while a huge handspring 1/1 twist on the vault gave her the silver medal. Kyra finished fifth in a tight division where only less then 0.4 of a point was the difference between fifth and second all around.
Tiffany Sharkie had a great competition becoming provincial champion both on the vault and the beam. Even with having two falls in the competition, Sharkie was able to come home with the silver medal all around only .3 away from coming home with the title.
Aimee Clark was Campbell River’s last competitor and she did not disappoint.
Although she did not have her best performance on one of her strongest events (two falls on the beam) Clark was still able to capture the silver medal in the all around and take home another silver medal for her bar routine.
This was a good competition to prepare for the Westerns, Clark had a much improved vault finishing fourth and added a twist to her flyaway dismount off the bars
The athletes at CRGA have shown great improvements over the last year and have caught the eyes of not only other athletes, but the coaches and judges as well.
