Training at a Calgary club prior to the weekend seemed to do the trick for some Polarettes.
On the weekend, nine members of Whitehorse’s Polarettes Gymnastics Club competed at the Exelta Cup in Red Deer, Alberta, bringing home seven ribbons for top-eight placements in events.
Producing the highest finish was Kelcie Henney in the Level 3 category, taking first on the bars for a third overall finish.
“Kelcie has been working really hard in the gym so I’m very impressed it paid off for her this weekend,” said Polarettes head coach Jenn Ryan. “She’s one of the hardest working kids we have.
“She just went out and nailed everything we were supposed to nail. It’s exactly what she’s been doing in practice, but now she’s put both pieces together.”
Completing her routine with no falls, Henney also came second on the beam.
“She’s been working really hard on her connections on beam,” said Ryan. “They’re tricky because it’s a mentally tough event.”
Performing in the Level 5 open class, Anna Rivard came second on the bars, fourth on the vault and fifth overall.
“She usually excels on vault, but unfortunately for her first one she didn’t flip it,” said Ryan. “It was a good day for her. She had a new floor routine this year that the audience really enjoyed.
“On the bars she had an excellent routine - she did all the combinations that we wanted her to do. She had a (Level) C dismount and she stood it up, which is nice because she had a full dismount.”
With 52 Level 2 gymnasts attending the meet, organizers decided to split the Level 2 “Tyro” division into those born in 1998 and in 1999.
Competing in the 1998 Tyro division, Lilyanne Gale came first on bars on her way to seventh overall.
“Lilyanne had a strong meet altogether,” said Ryan. “Twelve is what we consider a really good score and she came home with two, so we were quite pleased.
“She had a very clean dismount and she also does a sole circle, which is nice to do in Level 2.”
In Tyro’s 1999 division, Polarettes’ Fayne O’Donovan had the most consistent results out of the Whitehorse crew, scoring 12 or higher in all four events for a sixth-place finish overall. Although O’Donovan had her best finish in the vault with fourth, her best score was a 12.3 on the floor.
“We had a great meet with all our Level 2s, all of them went out and did exactly what we asked them to do,” said Ryan.
In the 1998 division with Gale was also Caitlyn Venasse, coming 11th overall, and Mackenzie Davy, finishing 19th.
Joining O’Donovan in the 1999 division, Alyssa Bunce finished 10th on both the floor and the vault for 26th overall.
Other Polarettes in Red Deer included Level 5 gymnast Corey Baxter, coming 10th, and Level 4 Foreste Martin, finishing in the 21st position overall.
O’Donovan, Davy, Gale and Venasse will be representing the Yukon at the Arctic Winter Games next month in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com