Members of the Lion’s Pride Gymnastics Club in Langford were all in the medal hunt either in individual events or for the all-around title in Junior Olympic level 5 competition at the recent Vancouver Island Gymnastics Championships at their home gym.
Lion’s Pride top overall finisher Hannah Iles, 10, bettered eventual champion Avery Harrison in three of the four disciplines, but was narrowly edged for all-around gold by the Nanaimo athlete on total points, 36.325 to 36.250.
Iles captured gold on the vault (9.7 out of 10) and tied for first on beam (9.275), while taking second in floor exercise (9.2). Her bars score of 8.075 was sixth-best and made the difference, as Harrison, 9, scored 8.775, good for second place.
Anika Stephens, whose floor exercise routine earned gold with a 9.45, wound up third all-around with a 35.900 total. Lion’s Pride teammate Madeline Sim, who topped the field on the bars with a mark of 8.825, was fourth at 35.875.
The other three Lion’s Pride athletes, Brooklyn Massey, Kalei Marchak and Acacia Klack, placed eighth through 10th overall, respectively.
Marchak had high marks on beam (tied Iles for first), vault (9.65, second) and floor (9.10, tie for third with Massey), but her all-around score fell with a 13th place mark on bars.
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