It was a weekend of firsts and finals for the North Valley Gymnastics Society (NVGS) in the Ogopogo Invitational in West Kelowna.
North Valley sent 15 athletes competing in Levels 4-7 in a field of 900.
Competing for the first time were Emma Locke (age 7) and Alexis Sibilleau (8). Both athletes competed in level 4 (child category) and they had an excellent experience and came away with top-10 finishes on all four events plus the all-around (all four scores combined) .
Carys Reed and Emelia Bolin ended their competitive season in level 5. Reed had one of her best competitions of the year, scoring a 9.00 on floor for sixth place and continued to excel on vault with the bronze medal. Bolin competed in only three events (sitting out floor) due to a minor injury. She showed a lot of determination and a positive attitude to place top-10.
Raedon Skanes competed in the Junior A category for level 6. She earned a bronze medal for a strong beam routine and top-10 finishes in all the other events, and fifth place all-around.
Charli Calvert and Izzy Gelter were in the Junior B category for level 6 and they both went top-10.
Julia Kalin, Emma Eggert, Amy Sol and Jenna Cotter competed in level 6 in the Senior A category. Kalin struck gold in the all-around to take home the coveted Ogopogo stuffy. She also placed on the podium for bars (1st), beam (3rd), and floor (2nd).
Cotter closed her gymnastics career and she made it her best by securing a silver medal in the bar routine and placed top-10 in the other events. Her all-time-high all-around score gave her seventh.
Sol also had a great meet, taking the bronze medal on vault and floor and pocketing a fifth in the all-around. Eggert showed excellent improvement to earn top-10 finishes on bars and floor.
Autumn and Emma Doucette competed in level 7 in the Senior A category to end their careers.
Both athletes had one of their best comps of the year. Autumn captured silver in the all-around and bars, as well as the gold for her handspring vault. Emma had an exceptional competition considering she was competing on a sprained knee. She did not compete floor, but showed off her routines on vault (9th), bars (4th), and beam (4th).
Brooklyn Ashby also competed in level 7 in the Junior A category. Ashby showed off her dance and tumbling to earn a silver for her floor routine and finish fourth in the all-around and on vault. She also had a strong sixth on the beam.
Said competitive coach Naomi Rokus: “What a great competition for all our athletes. They all had a excellent time and represented NVGS great. We have a group of young new athletes coming up that are doing so well. They have had the privilege to watch, and sometimes train with, athletes like Autumn, Emma,and Jenna who are now moving on to focus on their schooling. They have had such a positive impact on our team and their fun personalities and lead by example work ethic will be missed by our whole team.”