The 2018 Gold Pan Invitational gymnastics meet took place Feb. 16-18 with funding from Via Sport and Hosting B.C., with athletes competing in a number of events at Correlieu Senior Secondary (CSS) throughout the weekend.
Tensions ran high in the gym as the athletes tested their skills, and teammates, parents and friends called out encouragement to each gymnast as they stepped onto the mat.
The meet had 215 entries, making it a larger meet for the north. Clubs from Prince George, Williams Lake, Dawson Creek and Fort St. John travelled to Quesnel to compete.
First up on Friday were the high school teams, with 38 athletes – eight from Quesnel – showing their skills on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and in floor routines.
A number of athletes attended from various high schools in Prince George, plus a distance-education student from Gold Trail Distributed Learning and teams from Quesnel Junior School (QJS) and CSS.
Prince George Secondary School came first overall, with QJS taking second place out of the 11 schools in attendance.
The Correlieu team placed fourth.
The Junior Olympic (JO) levels competed on Saturday, with athletes from JO 1 to 10. This meet was a Zone 8 qualifier for JO 6 athletes for the Junior Olympic Gymnastics B.C. Championships – meaning the top 20 JO 6 athletes qualify to attend the championships. Seventeen JO 6 athletes were in attendance, hoping for a spot at Championships.
Twenty-six gymnasts from Quesnel competed on vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor, and ribbons were awarded to the top eight competitors in each category.
All Quesnel’s JO 6 girls get to attend the B.C. Championships, having made the cut of 20 athletes after strong performances in all the events.
And finally on Sunday were the interclub sessions, for recreational gymnasts. There were 58 interclub entries, with eight from Quesnel. The Performance Plus category within interclub is awarded gold, silver and bronze based on the athletes’ individual performance, as are the lower JO levels 1 and 2. The interclub performance category athletes receive adjudications and participation medals.
Quesnel Technics Gymnastics Club’s program coordinator Elizabeth Floyd said on Saturday she was pleased with attendance and with how the meet was shaping up.
“Things are running smoothly. We don’t have enough judges in the north but we managed to get enough to make things run really well,” she commented.
Floyd, who is the high school coach, said she was proud of how the gymnasts had performed on Friday.
“All of our girls did so well. There were lots of nines, and even girls in their first year of gymnastics placed well.”
Floyd said the JO sessions had gymnasts of all ages, including some very high level athletes.
“Jessica Higgins [from Quesnel] is a JO 9, and there is one athlete from Prince George who is a JO 10.
“It’s so great to see the high level skills. All these girls are just amazing to watch. “
Quesnel high school athletes – individual results
Zoey Nestel – level 1: vault, 7th; bars, 5th; beam, 3rd; floor, 3rd; all around, 5th
Sydney Jolly – level 2: vault, 3rd; bars, 4th; beam, 4th; floor, 2nd; all around, 2nd
Hannah Brown – level 3: vault, 1st; bars, 3rd; beam, 5th; floor, 2nd; all around, 2nd
Sierra Moore – level 3: vault, 5th; bars, 4th; beam, 9th; floor - 8th; all around, 8th
Presley Kitamura – level 4: vault, 2nd; bars, 1st; beam, 1st; floor, 1st; all around, 1st
Bianca Thompson – level 5: vault, 2nd; bars, 2nd; beam, 2nd; floor, 2nd; all around, 2nd
Jessica Higgins – level 5: vault, 1st; bars, 1st; beam, 1st; floor, 1st; all around, 1st
Quesnel competitive athletes – individual results
Kamryn Grant – JO 1: vault, silver; bars, silver; beam, gold; floor, silver; all around, silver
Anna Kadenbach – JO 2: vault, silver; bars, bronze; beam, gold; floor, silver; all around, silver
Paityn Giesbrecht – JO 2: vault, silver; bars, silver; beam, silver; floor, silver; all around, silver
Kassia Kitamura – JO 3: vault, 6th; bars, 6th; beam, 5th; floor, 2nd; all round, 5th
Paige Grant – JO 3: vault, 6th; bars, 4th; beam, 9th; floor, 6th; all around, 7th
Gizelle McDonald – JO 3: vault, 5th; bars, 10th; beam, 7th; floor, 8th; all around, 8th
Reese Hackney – JO 3: vault, 4th; bars, 5th; beam, 10th; floor, 10th; all around, 9th
Justine Biller – JO 3: vault, 7th; bars, 8th; beam, 8th; floor, 9th; all around, 10th
Jersey Leeson – JO 3: vault, 8th; bars, 7th; beam, 7th; floor, 11th; all around, 11th
Rylynn Nugent – JO 3 (older category): vault, 1st; bars, 7th; beam, 2nd; floor, 5th; all around, 1st
Isabella Burke - JO 3 (older category): vault, 4th; bars, 5th; beam, 3rd; floor, 4th; all around, 3rd
Tahlia Denis – JO 3 (older category): vault, 2nd; bars, 9th; beam, 5th; floor, 2nd; all around, 9th
Jacqualyn Ouellette – JO 3 (older category): vault, 5th; bars, 3rd; beam, 2nd; floor, 10th; all around, 11th
Emily Grant – JO 4: vault, 8th; bars, 11th; beam, 9th; floor, 11th; all around, 11th
Sienna Gryschuk – JO 6: vault, 1st; bars, 3rd; beam, 4th; floor, 4th; all around, 3rd
Seaura Stewart – JO 6: vault, 3rd; bars, 5th; beam, 5th; floor, 3rd; all around, 4th
Xaria Jourdain – JO 6: vault, 5th; bars, 4th; beam, 3rd; floor, 5th; all around, 5th
Hannah Brown – JO 6 (older category): vault, 8th; bars, 8th; beam, 10th; floor, 3rd; all around, 6th
Presley Kitamura – JO 7: vault, 6th; bars, 4th; beam, 1st; floor, 2nd; all around, 1st
Rachel Ganes – JO 7: vault, 7th; bars, 8th; beam, 5th; floor, 7th; all around, 9th
Courtney Kitamura – JO 7: vault, 9th; bars, 9th; beam, 9th; floor, 10th; all around, 10th
Christine Kline – JO 7: vault, 8th; bars, 7th; beam, 6th; floor, 8th; all around, 7th
Bianca Thompson – JO 8: vault, 3rd; bars, 2nd; beam, 3rd; floor, 1st; all around, 3rd
Jessica Higgins – JO 9: opted out of awards
Geillan McEwan – Aspire 1: 1st in all events
Quesnel interclub athletes – individual results
Gemma Brackett – performance plus: vault, gold; bars, silver; beam, gold; floor, gold; all-around, gold
Carmen Silva – performance plus: vault, silver; bars, silver; beam, gold; floor, gold; all-around, gold
Mackenzie Ford – performance plus: vault, gold; bars, silver; beam, gold; floor, gold; all-around, gold
Performance category (received participation medals): Taylor Ismond, Carolyn Biller, Shelby Lust, Lily-Grace Winthrope, Katy Singer