Local gymnasts shake cobwebs in early competitive meet

About 220 athletes from throughout the province took advantage of the Okanagan Gymnastics Centre’s annual Cobweb Invitational meet on the weekend.

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With the purpose of giving athletes the opportunity to perform their routines in an early-season competition, the Cobweb attracted its largest contingent of gymnasts in the long history of the event.

The two-day competition included 75 members from the host OGC, 11 of whom finished first in provincial-level categories.

Izabelle Coetzee of the OGC won the JO 3 Junior A category by earning gold on the vault, bars and floor exercise. She also earned a silver medal on the balance beam.

Tara Dunn finished second overall, winning gold on balance beam and taking second place on uneven bars and floor exercise. Makena Ivanitz earned a bronze medal on beam.

First place overall in the JO 3 Junior B division went to OGC’s Junelle Sabang, who claimed gold on both the bars and floor exercise. She also took the silver on vault and balance beam.

Talia Westwood won the balance beam and finished second overall and second on floor in the JO 3 Junior B competition. She also earned a bronze on the uneven bars. Rae Roworth finished with a gold medal on the vault, while Ava Roth won a silver on vault.

In the JO 3 Senior category, Summer Houston won the vault with a score of 9.55. She also placed third overall and third on floor exercise. Eva Solano placed first on the floor and second on balance beam.

In the JO 4 Jr category, Iulia Tarasenco’s 37.525 points earned her first place all-around in the JO 4 Junior category. She won gold on bars, beam and floor and finished third on the vault. Piper Campo was second overall in the same division with 37.141 points all around. Campo earned a gold on vault, and beam, silver on floor and third place on the uneven bars. Haylee VanSteinburg was third overall after earning a bronze medal on the floor exercise and Alexandra Kennedy claimed a silver medal on vault and uneven bars.

Taylor Morrison won the JO 4 Senior category competition with the help of a first-place finish on bars and floor. She also earned a silver for her performance on the balance beam. Teammate Teagan Murray finished second overall, taking the gold medal on the vault and balance beam.

Wins on the uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise led to an all around gold for Veronika Yacovelli of the OGC in the JO 5 category. Kate Levinsen finished second overall after finishing second on the floor exercise and in third place on uneven bars.

Olive Fenske finished second overall in the JO 6 Junior category, winning gold on floor and placing second on vault. Sydney Ortynski finished in first place on the uneven bars and in third place on the floor exercise.

Alayna Butler won a silver medal in the JO 6 Senior category and a silver medal went to Naomi Scrader in the JO 7 floor exercise event.

Miah Denis finished first overall in the Aspire 1 category. She finished in first place on the uneven bars and balance beam. Natalia Simeonovic earned silver overall after finishing first place on vault and floor and second on bars and beam. Jayelle Williams finished third on vault, bars and beam.

Kimberly Stadtmueller, a German exchange student training in Kelowna and competing for OGC for the 2017 season, finished second overall by earning a silver on the balance beam and bronze on uneven bars.

Taylor Bowden garnered a silver medal on the uneven bars while Emily Mackay won the vault and floor exercise. Mackenzie Carroll earned a gold medal for her performance on the balance beam, while Danica Graves finished with a silver medal on the balance beam and Braelyn Dillon claimed a bronze medal on the vault.

Vanessa Bulcock won the JO 9 category after a strong performance that earned her a gold medal on the vault, uneven bars and balance beam. She finished with a silver medal on the floor exercise.

Sophie Tesar finished second overall by winning the floor and taking second on vault and uneven bars and third place on the balance beam. Grace Driver placed third place overall after finishing with a bronze medal on vault, uneven bars and floor exercise. Samantha Pelletier earned herself a silver medal on the balance beam.

The OGC’s Kamryn Greenhalgh won the HP Novice category with a clean sweep of all four events. Amanda Jaggard finished second overall with silver on bars, beam and floor, and a bronze on vault, while Kyleigh Crawford finished third overall with a silver on vault and bronze on bars, beam and floor.

Jenna Mick competed in the JO 10 category where she was the only competitor in her class and Lucia Jakab showed her routines in HP Junior where she was the only one in her category.

Both of these girls are eligible for Canadian championships in their respective categories.

Meanwhile, the OGC also hosted 20 interclub athletes under the direction of coach Cori Calkins. These athletes competed in a performance-style competition where the athletes perform their routines to the judges and receive a score, but are not ranked against the other athletes.

Competing in the Performance category for the first time was Brielle Leach. In the Performance Plus category, Shiphra Penner, Katie Flaten, Emily Johnson, Olivia Pilato and Nyah Hedstrom all finished with a gold medal overall. Aida Hedstrom and Macy Eburne earned a silver medal overall and Caitlin Mahony claimed a bronze.

In the Performance Challenge category, Jordan Carson, Katjana Geismayr, Seija Bishop, Jordan Hilverda, Austyn Bannister and Ava Schraeder earned gold overall. Eva Moore, Caiya Taylor-Ainslie, Shelbi Jardine and Olivia Thompson earned silver overall.

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