Submitted
Nelson’s Glacier Gymnastics hosted the 2019 Kootenay Zone Championships this past weekend.
Three hundred and fifty gymnasts from Trail, Castlegar, Nelson, Creston, Cranbrook, Kimberley, Invermere, Lake Country, Penticton and Golden participated in the event vying for individual all-around, event and team titles.
The Glacier Team won 90 medals, seven of which were first-place All Around Championship titles. The team also claimed the First Place Team titles in the Zone 1 Pre-Level 6 and High School Level 3 categories. Glacier also captured the Second Place Team award for the High School Level 1 and 2 and Junior Olympic Level 6-8 categories.
“This is a great end to a successful season for our Junior Olympic competitors,” said Glacier Gymnastics head coach, Sandra Long. “A lot of our competitors added new skills or moved up a level for this competition. With all the routine changes, the girls still looked polished and performed well.”
Glacier Gymnastics’ recent BC Provincial Championships Junior Olympic gymnasts continued their winning streak in the Junior Olympic Level 6, 7 and 8 categories. Medal highlights in the Level 6, 9-11 years category; Jersey Skolka claimed the All Around gold medal, just ahead of teammate Anouk Prud’homme who won the silver medal. In the Level 6, 12 and up category, Elisa Clark captured the All Around bronze medal with Tia Berens taking the silver on floor.
In the Junior Olympic Level 7 – all ages category, Macy Loutit won the bronze on floor in her first attempt at this level.
In the Junior Olympic Level 8 – all ages category, the Glacier team had two gymnasts on the all-around podium, Eden Bellman claiming the gold medal and Dafni van Hellemond right behind her winning the silver.
The nine Glacier gymnasts competing in the Zone 1 Pre-Level 6 category claiming five of the six all around placements. In the 8-10 year age-group, Glacier cleaned up on the all-around podium, with Maggie Kormany taking the gold medal, Elsa Troutet winning the silver and Anika Denkovski earning the bronze. And Ember Mullin-Topf won the gold medal on the beam event.
In the 11 and up age-group, Glacier took the top two all-around podium positions, with Sarah Stew winning gold followed by teammate Marin Smienk with silver. Emerson Mandseth captured gold on floor and Anni van Hellemond took home the silver on bars.
The Glacier coaching team is delighted with the performances of the team’s junior competitors. “Their dedicated training has paid off for them,” says Long. “If our new competitors continue their progress we will see a bigger and more successful team attending BC Championships next season.”
The Glacier High School Girls 13 member Team claimed 40 Zone Championships medals.
In the Junior High School Level 1 category, Lucca Dehnel won all-around silver. In the Junior High School Level 2, category, Glacier once again was on top of the podium, with Mattaya Oakley taking the gold. Maite Troutet took the gold on floor followed by Selina Kromer-Anton with the silver and Kallie Badry with the bronze.
In the High School Level 2, 14-year-old category, Zeva Rushforth captured the gold on floor. In the 15 and up category, Gabriella Hurst won silver all-around.
Paityn Lake won gold all around in the Junior High School Level 3 category followed by Lumay Plautz who claimed the silver and Georgia Shuel taking the bronze. Molly Anderson won silver on the bars event.
In the Senior High School Level 3 category, Alexa Anast won the all around gold, followed by teammate Ella Taylor who won the silver. Tabia Hartikainen claimed the silver on beam.
In the trampoline discipline, Molly Anderson, Teija Hartman and Anni van Hellemond all won all around gold in their respective age group categories.