Polarettes gymnasts shine at Prince George, B.C. meets

After a season filled with numerous accomplishments, members of the Polarettes and Polar Tumblers Gymnastics Club are heading into their final meet of 2007-08 feeling pretty good about themselves.

After a season filled with numerous accomplishments, members of the Polarettes and Polar Tumblers Gymnastics Club are heading into their final meet of 2007-08 feeling pretty good about themselves.
The most recent accolades came at the clubs previous two meets, held in Prince George, B.C. earlier in May.

At the two meets, members of the club won a total of seven medals, including a silver medal at the Westerns Canadian Gymnastics Championships in the vault event. The silver medal was won by Anna Rivard.
“It was a great season,“ said Kelly Mock, the technical director for the Yukon Gymnastics Association.

“All of the kids really did an incredible job.

Every competition we went to the kids came back with recognition in the form of ribbons or medals and they all have improved tremendously.“
The final competition will be held on the May long-weekend in Juneau, Alaska. Gymnastics Yukon expects to send around 15 athletes to the Southeast Alaska Invitational.

The meet is open to both male and female gymnasts at the club who are Level 1 through 3.
This is a fun competition between the two clubs, who have a long-standing history of friendly competition with one another.

Medals and trophies will be given out as prizes at the event. The meet will conclude the gymnastics season in the Yukon.
Rivard is the only Level 5 athlete at the club, which is a requirement to compete at the westerns.

At the westerns, Rivard competed in the Level 5 Open category against 21 of the best gymnasts from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Her accomplishments at the meet included placing in the top eight in three out of the four events.

The only event that Rivard finished out of the top eight was beam, where some minor difficulties dropped her from fifth to 10th place at the end of day-one.
At the westerns, the top eight gymnasts in each event advance to the second and final day of competition.

Rivard tied a Yukon record by placing in the top eight in the three events, including a second place result in the vault.

She also had a fourth place showing in the bars event and finished eighth on the floor.

The record Rivard tied was set back in 1999 by Yukon gymnast Katie Warner.
Rivard’s final placing included finishing eighth on bars, seventh on floor and winning the silver medal in the vault event. 
Rivard’s day-one score in the vault event was a 13.9, which was good enough to give her sole possession of second place.

Rivard also recorded a very impressive 12.25 on the bars to place her in fourth after the conclusion of day-one at the westerns.

She scored a 13.65 in her second day on the vault, which, once again, was high enough to place her in the number two spot.
Rivard also won a silver medal in vault at the 2007 Westerns. Going into the meet, her goal was to medal in at least one event and to place in the top eight in at least two.
Rivard said she was pleased with her performance at the meet.
“I did good, same as last year though,“ she said. “In a way I think it was a tad easier than last year, probably because I knew what to expect.“
She said the first silver medal at westerns meant a little bit more to her because it was her first medal at the meet.
Mock said he was impressed with how well Rivard did at the westerns.
“The highlight I would say for westerns was Anna receiving the silver medal in vault,“ he said.

“Being the only athlete from here and going down and receiving a medal is just outstanding.“
The other meet was called the Prince George Invitational, held one day after the westerns.

The meet was open to gymnasts who were Level 1 through Level 3. Three Yukon athletes attended and were all Level 2 gymnasts.
The highlights for the Prince George Invitational included a staggering five medals won by Lilyanne Gale.

What makes Gale’s performance even more impressive was the fact that this was her first Outside competition she has ever competed in.
The medals Gale won included a bronze on vault, a gold medal on bars, a bronze on beam and a bronze on the floor.

She was also awarded with a silver medal in the all-around category.
Gale, nine, said she was happy with her first Outside competition in the sport.
“It was really incredible,“ she said. “It was really fun in Prince George, so I just had a lot of fun.“
Gale said the best part about the competition was winning the bronze medal in the beam event.
“I liked the beam,“ she said. “It was really fun and I stuck it and I did it really good.“
Gale, who just became a Level 2 gymnast this year, plans on participating in the meet in Juneau.

She said she is more confident heading into this weekend after doing so well in Prince George.
Mock said Gale did a dynamite job in B.C.
“I knew that she was going to do well,“ he said. “She is a very talented, young gymnast and she has a very bright future ahead of her.“
He credits Gale’s success to her dedication in the sport.
“She is a very hard worker,“ Mock said. “She is very dedicated and she just has some good natural talent and good physical abilities.“
Mackenzie Davy, 10, also attended the Prince George meet. Davy finished in a very impressive fourth in the all-around category, which included a bronze medal on bars and a fourth place showing in the other three events.
Davy, who has been a gymnast for three years, said she was pleased about winning the bronze medal.
“I was really happy that I was able to get a bronze on my bars and move up and be able to do some of the things that I can do now.“
She said this was her best finish in an Outside competition and that her only goals heading into it involved just doing the best she could and getting at least one medal.
Davy will also compete in Juneau and hopes to be up on the podium again.
“I would love to get a first; that would be nice, but it doesn’t matter,“ she said. “Any medal is good for me. It shows that I did my best.“
Davy said out of all of the events she would prefer to medal in the floor the most.
“I would really like to medal at my floor because I really like the floor and to be able to do really good on the floor means that I am really clean,“ she said.

“If I was to medal on that that would be nice.“
Fayne O’Donovan, eight, also had a great showing for the Yukon at the Prince George Invitational.

O’Donovan finished fifth in the all-around category, after placing sixth on vault, fifth on bars, fifth on beam and sixth on floor.
O’Donovan managed the great placing despite battling a shin injury throughout the entire competition.

O’Donovan said she was the most proud of her sixth place finish on the vault because she received a 11.45 score, which is a personal best for her.

O’Donovan will also be going to Juneau and said she is looking forward to the meet.

Presently, in her young career in the sport, she has never medalled in an Outside competition, but O’Donovan is hoping to change this at the final meet of the season.
“I am hoping to get a medal on vault or floor,“ she said. “I would be really proud.“
Mock said there are a lot of benefits to gymnasts at the club travelling to Outside competitions.

He said he was proud of all of the girls who travelled to Prince George and took part in the two meets.
“For me it is nice to see them accomplish things for themselves,“ he said.

“It just really improves their confidence and just really makes them feel good about themselves when they see themselves improve.

That to me is the most rewarding aspect.

They all did incredibly well and we are all really proud of how they did.“