If there was a Whitehorse gymnast in the division, she was on the podium at the end of the day.
That, in a nutshell, was the story of the Gold Rush Invitational last Saturday in Juneau, Alaska.
Every single member of Whitehorse’s Polarettes Gymnastics Club made the podium at the event that included gymnasts from Juneau and Sitka, Alaska.
With those results Polarettes took home the all-around team trophy.
“The kids were pretty excited about that,” said Polarettes head coach Kimberly Jones. “It was a pretty good confidence boost going into the Yukon champs, for sure.”
Not only were Yukoners ubiquitous on the podium, they were often on the top tier. In all five divisions Polarettes entered, one took the all-around gold - twice sweeping the podium spots.
Polarettes captured all three all-around medals in Junior Olympic 2 (JO2) C division.
Amelie Guilbeault took all-around gold with a score of 35.45. She dominated with first in vault, bars and floor, and second on beam.
Gillian Mullan placed second all-around with silvers on bars and floor, and bronze on vault and beam.
Kasey Lynne Cozens grabbed all-around bronze with a variety pack of medals: gold on beam, silver on vault and bronze on floor.
Whitehorse’s Maya Hudson placed first all-around in the JO2 D division at 35.55, pocketing gold on bars, beam and floor, and silver on vault.
Teammate Mackenzie Tonner - the only other Polarette in the division - finished second all-around with gold on vault and silver on the other three.
It was the very first competition outside Yukon for all the JO2 gymnasts from Whitehorse, including all-around gold medalists Guilbeault and Hudson.
“That was a pretty big deal for them,” said Jones. “The first meet you go to and you totally clean up, that’s a pretty exciting day.
“This group is quite a bit younger; they’re all eight, nine and 10, and that’s the first year that you start to compete in gymnastics.”
Polarettes’ Kate Koepke picked up three gold and a seventh place on floor to take first all-around in JO3 at 34.85.
“She had a really strong meet. I would say her best event is bars. The results say vault - she’s good at both,” said Jones.
Kya Larkin landed third all-around in JO3 with silver on vault, bronze on bars and fourth on beam.
Kalina Morrison’s first competition in JO4 - and first of the season - went well, to say the least. The Whitehorse gymnast won gold all-around at 32.20, winning gold on bars and floor, and silver on beam.
“She’s come a really long way with her gymnastics; she’s really improved a lot,” said Jones. “That was her first time winning a competition and she’s worked really hard to get to that point.”
Riley Boland claimed second all-around in JO4 with gold on beam, silver on floor and bronze on bars.
Polarettes also swept the podium in JO6.
Maude Molgat notched first all-around at 35.27 with gold on bars, silver on vault and beam. Megan Miller came with gold on beam and floor, bronze on bars. Lily Witten picked up third all-around with silver on bars and fourth on beam.
Molgat, who was Yukon’s JO4 champ last season, won a bronze medal on bars at the 2016 Delta Invitational two weeks ago in B.C.
“She finally had the meet she’s been trying to achieve all year,” said Jones. “Earlier in the year she had quite a few mistakes on beam and wasn’t very happy with it. This meet she finally hit four for four. That means she did all her events to the best of her ability.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com