Local gymnasts shine

Photo: Okanagan Rhythmic Gymnastics

Jaedyn and Isabella shine at national competition.

Vernon rhythmic gymnasts shined at a huge national competition.

Elite Canada is the first of two annual national team trials and ranking events for rhythmic gymnastics.

The Vernon team of seven qualified athletes attended the Las Vegas International in January, where they debuted their new routines for the first time this season.

“Competing alongside national team members from the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, Russia and even Australia’s star Olympian, gave our athletes a chance to rise up, to try everything we’ve been working on and to see where we needed to focus," said head coach Camille Martens. "It was a great way to prepare."

Jaedyn Andreotti, a first-year senior, made the transition to senior with ease.

Despite a minor foot injury that cost her, her final week of training, she was able to qualify for the finals as the highest ranked athlete from Western Canada.

"I was really happy with how I did at elite. My main goal was just to go super full out and compete and look like a senior," Andreotti said. "I'm really excited for my trip. I've never been gone for a whole month before and I can't wait."

"I have some amazing opportunities while I'm there."

She placed 7th overall, fourth in the clubs final and for won a bronze medal in the hoop finals.

The prestigious competition, which is only for Canada’s top qualified gymnasts from last season, was held at the Pan Am Centre in Toronto this past weekend.  

Novice athlete Madeline Sellars walked away with a top 10 national rank at her first big event.

First-time junior level athletes Ashlyn Andreotti and Elle Dockendorff were there to gain experience.

Andreotti's best placing was 39th in her hoop scoring 7.0 and Dockendorff's personal best was in hoop scoring an 8.75 for 29th place.

Halle Moger, one of the teams junior veterans, scored 9.55 and placed 18th in the hoop event.  

Isabella Haldane has been a member of Canada’s High-Performance Team for two years.  

She finished 6th in hoop, 11th in clubs and placed 15th in the All Around category which qualified her to the high-performance finals.  

"I wasn’t overjoyed with my performances at elite, but I was happy to try my new routines and see the errors in competition, so I can learn from my mistakes and now move on," Haldane said. "I am very excited for Greece and Latvia because it will give me another chance to show my routines."

In finals, she earned automatic entry to this year’s nationals and another year of being a member of the High-Performance National Team Pool.

Senior, Emmalee Holland was on track for the high-performance finals but an unfortunate knot and other mistakes in her ribbon made that possibility unreachable this time around.

High-performance stars, Andreotti, and Haldane, will be joined by teammates Holland and Ashlyn Andreotti to represent Canada at a tournament in Kalamata, Greece next week.  

From there, the duo will travel to Riga, Latvia for a major international event before Jaedyn Andreotti continues on to Kiev, Ukraine for a training camp and a Grand Prix competition.

"I am so proud of our whole team.  They handled themselves beautifully and had lots of shining moments.," Martens said. "It was really exciting to have both junior and senior HP athletes performing in the finals.  It speaks to the strength of the team and to the hours of hard work these girls have put in."  

"I am eager to see them grow and improve as we take their programs overseas."