Three members of the Okanagan Rhythmic Gymnastics Club have been named to the Canadian National Team.
After international successes in Moscow, Russia, Athens, Greece, Lisbon, Portugal and Italy, the Vernon girls were on fire heading into nationals.
“Being able to take part in a large event in Greece (over 250 individual athletes) and then to be at three World Cup and international tournaments (Moscow, Lisbon, Pesaro) was a big advantage for our girls.”
“When you are watching and working with the world’s best, in training and in competition, your standard is raised. The fact that they were the top Canadian finishers multiple times was another big confidence booster for them,” said Vernon head coach Camille Martens.
In Winnipeg at nationals, Megan Hamilton finished sixth during the Senior High Performance level and was top-eight in all events.
She smashed her two-day total from Elite Canada by over 10 points. Hamilton is ranked eighth on the national team and has been a member for three consecutive years.
In Junior High Performance, Jayden Andreotti and Isabella Haldane stayed strong through qualification and finals and earned places on the Junior National Team.
Andreotti is ranked fourth and Isabella 10th and they are both first-time members.
“When you step back and take note that on Canada’s National Team, the province of Alberta has one athlete, Manitoba has one athlete, Quebec has two athletes and our little Vernon club has three, you realize what an incredible thing it is that these girls (with the help of their support teams) have done,” said Martens.
Other Okanagan athlete highlights included:
Leah Defeo was seventh in ribbon, then executed the most amazing clubs routine to claim fourth, which brought her to a sixth overall at her first national championships; Tessa Rohatensky nailed her hoop routine for seventh, was eighth in ribbon and 11th overall.
Emmalee Holland had multiple personal bests including her hoop score in which she finished fifth. Her overall score went from 37.1 at Elite Canada to 42.95 at Canadian nationals.
Rema Buschow Pander was top B.C. novice finishing seventh in wild and wonderful free and sixth in dynamic clubs. Rema improved over seven points in her all-around score from Elite Canada to nationals.