For the first time in recent memory the Yorkton Springers Gymnastics Club had each and every competitive gymnast, 16 in total, qualify and compete in the Provincial championships that were held in Moose Jaw this past weekend.
"They all qualified," offered a proud Todd Appel, one of the coaches at Springers Gymnastics. "They all went there and competed. Some did really well and some maybe didn't do as well as they may have hoped, but that's the thing with gymnastics. All it takes is a second for a loss of focus and you take a fall on beam or something like that and there goes your score."
However three of the 16 Yorkton girls who competed found the podium in the all-around total, which is the combined score of the four routines, vault, bars, beam and floor.
And of those three girls it was 12-year-old Brynn Jarvis who impressed the most with a combined all-around score of 50.104 thanks to a 12.700 (second in vault), 12.400 (eighth in bars), 12.467 (first on the beam) and 12.537 (fourth on the floor) in the Prov. Two Tyro category. "Brynn had an amazing weekend," offered Appel. "She had an all-around score of over 50 points. That's pretty high because normally anything around 48 is a really good score so she did really well. That's good because this will be her last year due to medical issues so it's good that she finished so well."
Kiara Lutz also had a strong showing in Moose Jaw. The 13-year-old competed in the Prov. Two Open category where she finished second on the bars (12.734), beam (11.734) and floor (12.267). However her sixth place finish in the vault competition lowered her score enough for Moose Jaw's Bryn Giddings to just edge out the Yorkton athlete for overall gold, as Lutz finished with an all-around total of 48.769, .100 behind Giddings for gold.
Yorkton Springers' final silver in all-around went to 13-year-old Brynn Nystrom. Nystrom had a rough go of it on the bars finishing 11th overall in that category with an 11.234 score but rebounded nicely to finish fourth in vault (12.200), fifth on the floor (12.100) and second on the beam (12.534) for a grand total of 48.068 and an all-around silver medal in the Prov. Three Novice group.
But while Jarvis, Lutz and Nystrom all had very impressive outings, Appel feels that all the girls did well at the Provincial competition where the athletes are always the cream of the crop. "They handled themselves professionally at the competition and it's nice to see and, as a coach, it makes me proud," said Appel. "It's a long season, nine months they train and compete and it's nice to see that they did well."
Other results
Jersey Zawatsky place sixth overall in Prov. One Tyro with a 47.400 score that included third place finishes in both the bars (12.350) and beam (12.150 events) while Raya Cuthill (13th overall, 45.300) and Erin Novak (16th overall, 42.950) also took part in Prov. One Tyro.
Emily Dumka was the lone Yorkton girl in Prov. One Argo category. The 10-year-old Dumka took home gold in the beam competition with an outstanding 12.050 score but could only manage a sixth place all-around total with 47.100.
Two Yorkton competitors took part in the Prov. One Open category and both put together good performances respectfully. Santana Rathgeber finished with 46.000 points while Teagan Langridge was just.150 behind her at 45.850, good enough for eighth and ninth place.
Yorkton's Kaybrie Lutz also put forth a strong effort. Lutz finished fourth overall in the Prov. Two Tyro category with a 49.168 all-around score. Unfortunately for her, however, the three competitors ahead of her also put up strong numbers and she was unable to reach the podium.
Yorkton had a total of five gymnasts competing in the Prov. Two Open category. While Kiera Lutz had the strongest outing of all Yorkton athletes, she finished second overall in the category, the other four Yorkton competitors also represented Springers well. Jenna Schofer (seventh, 45.669), Emily Zajac (eighth, 45.434) and Meaghan Pinno (tenth, 44.168) all did well in all four events while Hayley Fayant-Stephens finished in 11th place overall (33.401) due to competing in three of the four events (she sat out of the vault competition).
Yorkton's final two competitors, Sidney Shyiak (15th, Prov. Three Novice, 43.401) and Cassidy Stachowich (sixth, Provincial Three Open, 43.768) also put together a strong performance in Moose Jaw with Stachowich even managing to secure the bronze medal in the vault program with a 12.300 score.
