Salta gymnasts fare well at zone championships

By Sean Rooney on March 21, 2018.

srooney@medicinehatnews.com @MHNRooney

Emma Flug didn’t exactly have high expectations for her balance beam routine at the Southern Alberta gymnastics championships this past weekend.

“Usually I get last place on beam,” said the 10-year-old Salta Gymnastics Club athlete.

Not this time. In the second rotation at the Altadore club in Calgary, Flug didn’t just stay on the beam, she nailed it to the tune of 9.150 points.

Good enough for second place. When it was all said and done, she won the all-around title for her age group —one of five all-around champions for the Medicine Hat team in arguably their most pressure-packed meet of the year.

“I was happy that I did it,” said Flug.

It was the end of the line for the Level 4 division competitor in the sense that there was no carrot of qualifying for provincials. Only the Level 6 and higher athletes had that to worry about. And sure enough, Salta’s three Level 6 competitors all made it through and will be in Red Deer April 14 and 15.

“Going into the Level 6 meet it’s high pressure because there were over 100 kids trying to qualify for 48 spots,” said Salta coach Rebecca Schmal. “They did exactly what they needed to do.

“It worked out perfect.”

Leading the Level 6 group was nine-year-old Olivia Chenard, who won the all-around in her age group. Her score of 37.465 was the best out of 26 in her age division and second in all100 or so Level 6 girls.

Kristen Friesen was third with 36.998 points, while Ria Thacker, a 10-year-old, put up a ninth-place score.

“It was good,” said Friesen, who’s risen all the way from Level 2 skills to Level 6 in a year. “I try hard.”

Personal bests and zone champions were common but Salta also won a few team awards, given for having the best combined all-around score between their top four athletes at any level. Flug’s win plus an all-around title for 2007-born Daniele Hollingworth helped Salta to a third-place team showing in Level 4. Aubri Krassman (third all-around and three event medals) and Kipp Stevens (one event gold) also factored in to the achievement, plus Mariah Robson was fourth on floor.

The Level 3 Salta girls won their level’s team award, with two all-around champs and two others who weren’t far off the top step of the podium. Gemma Snazel won every event but floor in her all-around domination, Makayla Van Leeuwen won everything but vault to cement her all-around title while Jorja Lundquist and Jenna Schubert were second and fourth, respectively, in Van Leeuwen’s age group.

“I didn’t have my back handspring, but I did it on the floor one night and this was my second competition doing it,” noted Lundquist, a 12-year-old who wound up seventh in the discipline.

Lundquist was second on vault and third on bars. Schubert won with a 9.350-point vault and was second on beam.

While the Level 3 and 4 athletes still have a couple competitions left on the schedule, they’re now focusing on levelling up for next season and maybe joining the Level 6 girls at provincials in 2019.

As for Chenard, Friesen and Thacker, the pressure should be off now that they’ve earned spots at provincials. But Schmal says they’re pushing hard.

“This was a high-pressure meet because they all wanted to reach provincials,” said Schmal. “Some are putting even more pressure on themselves because they want a provincial title. It’s not the coaching staff doing that, it’s the kids. They’re driving us.”

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