Spread between Falcon Gymnastics and the Lion’s Pride club, West Shore athletes were among the leaders in a variety of competitive categories and age groups at the B.C. artistic gymnastics championships in Langley last weekend.
Competing in the Junior Olympic 8 category (1999-2001 birth year) for the Falcon club, Emily Schmidt captured a gold medal with an outstanding performance on balance beam. The winning effort, paired with a fourth-place mark in floor exercise and top 10 marks on vault and uneven bars, helped her place third all-around.
Younger sister Georgina Schmidt, who competed on a wild card berth into provincials, showed grit and posted solid marks in the JO6 (2004) division, including a 15th-place effort on the bars. She wound up 24th overall among 39 athletes.
Langford-based Lion’s Pride Gymnastics athletes were led by Hannah Iles, who grabbed gold on vault in JO7 (2004-2007) and sixth-place marks on floor and bars en route to a fifth-place all-around finish.
Teammates Paris Leigh and Reese Wheldon finished sixth and seventh all-around, respectively, in JO8 (1999-2001). Wheldon collected silver medals in both bars and floor, while Leigh grabbed bronze on the bars. Madeline Sim was 15th all-around in JO7 (2002) and Brooklyn Massie 20th in JO7 (2004-07).
Among the other Falcon athletes, Kiana Pheiffer was crowned provincial champion in JO7 (1998-2000) helped by a silver on floor and bronze on beam.
Other Falcon top 10 all-around results included Jordan Reilly, third in JO6 (2002); Karley Telford (fourth all-around; silver, bars), Ava Stewart (eight all-around; silver, floor exercise) and Georgina Love (ninth all-around) in JO6 (2004); Abby Stamper, eighth in JO7 (2001); Sara Keating ninth in JO8 (1999-2001), and Mia Butcher and Leonie Solomons, ninth and 10th, respectively, in JO7 (2002).
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