Polarettes gymnasts are racking up some strong results and a whole lot of frequent flyer miles this season.
Members of the Whitehorse club competed in Las Vegas in January and Montreal two weeks ago. Five Polarettes also competed at the University of Calgary International Cup in Alberta, March 16-19.
“For Emily King and Riley Boland, this competition was only three days after their competition in Montreal … presenting the added challenge of fatigue from an overwhelming experience at Gymnix,” said Polarettes head coach Kimberly Jones.
Boland and King didn’t seem too tired, given some of their results.
Boland, who was competing in Junior Olympic 6 (JO 6), placed eighth on the beam en route to finishing 31st all-around.
King, who was in JO 8, claimed 11th on the beam and finished 22nd all-around. She would have placed higher all-around but sat out the vault.
“Emily warmed up her vault and has been struggling with growing pains in her heels so we scratched her from vault to give her heels a break,” said Jones. “Emily handled herself very well and gained valuable life experience learning how to push through two meets.”
Kalina Morrison, competing in JO 6 and outside Yukon for her first time, was a standout for the Polarettes team. She cracked the top-10 with ninth on the bars, finishing 19th all-around.
Teammate Anna Gishler, in an older JO 6 division, tied for 25th on the bars. She placed 32nd all-around.
Polaretttes’ Bianca Berko-Malvasio had an unexpected end to what was supposed to be her first competition in a year. Berko-Malvasio scratched from competition following a sprained ankle sustained during warm-up.
“Bianca had been working harder than ever to perfect her routines and was looking stronger than ever before,” said Jones
“She handled the injury with grace and a positive attitude.”
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com