Vernon gymnast Emma Locke displays her gold medal outside the Richmond Olympic Oval. (Photo Submitted)

Vernon gymnast Emma Locke displays her gold medal outside the Richmond Olympic Oval. (Photo Submitted)

Locke leads North Valley gymnasts

Huge meet at Richmond Olympic Oval

Emma Locke’s gold in the level 4 division highlighted the North Valley Club showing at the recent Delta Gymnastics Meet at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

The competition attracted close to 1,000 participants with Vernon represented by eight athletes in four categories.

Locke, eight, struck gold with an explosive vault. She also stuck her other three events for sixth all around.

“Emma competed within a very strong group,” said North Valley coach Naomi Roku. “I’m very impressed with her competition. Emma is super driven and she has really worked hard on the mental side of her gymnastics. Pretty impressive considering she is only eight.”

Amy Sol, 17, and Emma Eggert, 15, competed in level 6.

Eggert claimed silver for her bar routine and finished sixth in the all around. Autumn Doucette competed in level 7 and claimed the bronze medal on floor and finished fourth on bars and in the all around.

Sol had another excellent competition finishing third on the all-around and third on both vault and balance.

Competing in level 3 were Anna Skelly and Neala Hackman. Skelly and Hackman excelled on vault placing fifth and sixth respectively. The two claimed top-10 finishes on all the other events.

Also competing in level 4 were nine-year-olds Alexis Sibilleau and Amelia Spitzer.

Sibilleau sparkled on bars with a fifth and seventh all around, while Spitzer stuck her beam routine for fifth and improved her vault to finish fifth while placing ninth on bars and floor.

“I’m always impressed when we go to these big competitions and our athletes are competitive with all the other big clubs in Western Canada,” added Rokus. “The kids all work very hard and have shown excellent improvement all year long.”

Vernon Morning Star