Earlier this month, the Whistler Gymnastics Club (WGC) headed down to the Lower Mainland for the Delta Invitational competition—one of the biggest gymnastics events of the year—held at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
Twenty-three WGC athletes competed, with multiple podium and top-10 finishers among them.
The WGC’s athletes are split into two categories: Xcel and Canadian Competitive Program (CCP). Xcel athletes train approximately five to six hours per week, while the CCP athletes train about 12 hours per week.
Standouts among the Xcel Bronze athletes include Emilia Aragon and Isabelle Shaw, who each took home multiple podium finishes. Aragon had a second-place finish on beam and another on floor, a third in all-around and an additional fourth and eighth on vault and bars, respectively, while Shaw took second-place finishes in beam, floor and all-around, as well as a third-place finish in her age group on bars.
In the Excel Silver group’s age 10 category, Juno Buhler and Dylan Eady finished first and second, respectively, in all-around, with Buhler adding an additional first on floor and two seconds on vault and bars.
Of the 11-year-olds, Kai Kwok and Alexa Maxwell each hit the podium multiple times with three seconds and a third for Kwok and two thirds for Maxwell.
Darcy Naish was the only WGC gymnast to podium in the 12-13 age category, taking home a first-place finish on floor and two thirds in beam and all-around.
And in the 14-15 age category, only Kastle Pazdzierski managed to snag a podium with a second and two thirds in floor, beam and all-around, respectively.
While none of the club’s higher-level CCP athletes managed a podium finish, there were a handful of strong performances and top-10 results.
All of Ruby McLatchie, Ocean Anderson, Sadie Richer, Sienna Osborn, Chloe Miron, Maya Langdale, Kira Douglas and Avery Lang ended the competition with multiple top-10 finishes.
Leading the pack were Langdale and Douglas, who each narrowly missed the podium with fourth-place finishes on bars and beam, respectively. Following close behind was McLatchie, who took home three fifths and a sixth; Osborn, who had a fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth- and ninth-place finish across her five events; and Richer and Lang, who each managed a fifth-place finish on floor.
The WGC’s CCP team will head to Kelowna at the start of June for their next meet.
