Powell River’s Junior Gymnastics Team recently made its first-ever trip to the 25th Annual Christy Fraser Memorial Invitational meet in Langley.
“This was their first big competition that hosts close to a thousand athletes,” said Powell River Gymnastics and Cheer administrator Karyne Bailey. “It was their first time as a team travelling to the Lower Mainland.”
The annual meet takes place over two days. Junior team coach Desiree Young said she was extremely pleased with the girls’ performances as every athlete placed in the top 10 for their divisions. As a combined team, the six gymnasts brought home three gold, two silver and three bronze medals, and 21 top-10 placement ribbons.
Olivia Raffin was the overall winner for the Junior Olympic Level 1 category. She attained five medals, including gold all around, a gold for beam, silver medals for bars and floor and a bronze for vault.
Larissa Laing achieved the gold medal for vault, a bronze medal for bars, sixth for floor and seventh for beam, placing her fourth all around.
Panagiota Rounis took the bronze medal for bars, fourth for beam, seventh for vault and ninth for floor, placing her seventh all around.
Samantha Lambert brought home fourth place for bars, fifth for beam, sixth for floor and eighth for vault. She placed sixth all around.
Kyla Randle came in fourth on floor, fifth on bars, ninth on beam and tenth on vault, placing her ninth all around.
Gabrielle Marshman competed in the higher Level 3 Junior Olympics category. She brought home a sixth-place finish for vault, eighth for beam and ninth for floor, placing her tenth all around.
The junior team will travel for one final Lower Mainland meet before heading into summer training, where they will learn new skills for the upcoming 2018/2019 season.
