Athletes from the host club more than held their own as the Okanagan Gymnastics Centre staged the biggest edition yet of of the Ogopogo Invitational June 11 at Royal LePage Place.
More than a record 700 athletes from across B.C., was well as Alberta and Ontario competed in the largest gymnastics event of the year in the valley.
“The annual competition has been growing every year and this year we broke the record again with more participants than we have ever hosted in the past,” said Heather Ivanitz, the meet director.
In men's competition, OGC's Hani Rehan competed in the Level 2 category where he earned a silver medal overall after winning the high bar, finishing second on floor, and third on pommel horse, vault and parallel bars.
Brent Rambold won the Level 2 (11-12 year old) category after finishing first on parallel bars and high bar and finishing second on floor, pommel horse, rings, and vault.
In the Level 1 category, Elliot Bone, Tristan Edwards and Artiom Potapciuc earned gold overall, while Nate Banner finished with silver overall.
In level 3, Jack Nyrose won rings and finished second on the vault to place third overall.
Willis Plant earned a bronze medal on the rings.
Oliver Eisele was the highest level athlete in the men’s competition and performed his routines for the judges for the last competition of the season.
In women’s competition, Amanda Jaggard finished second overall in the Aspire 2 category after winning the balance beam and finishing with silvers in the other three events.
Samantha Pelletier finished third overall after earning bronze on vault and balance beam, Sophie Tesar finished with a bronze on the floor, while Kyleigh Crawford finished with a bronze on the uneven bars.
Lucia Jakab competed in the Level 10 category only one week after returning home from Canadian championships and finished first overall, winning the vault, balance beam and floor exercise.
Jenna Mick competed in her first level 10, finishing third overall after earning silver medals on the balance beam and floor exercise and a bronze medal on the uneven bars.
In the Level 8 (2000-2001) category, Emily Mackay, Maddi Nethercote and Danica Graves all earned a bronze medal on one event competing in the Level 8 category for the very first time. Mackay earned her medal on the uneven bars, Nethercote on the beam and Graves on the floor.
In Level 8 (2002-2003), Jillian Beaudreau earned a bronze medal over all after finishing second on the uneven bars.
In the Level 8 (2004 and younger) category, Kenedi Woodcox finished third overall after earning a silver on the bars and a bronze on the balance beam. Kayleigh Nicolson won the balance beam with a 9.60. Both of these girls competed in the Level 8 category for the first time as well.
In Level 7 (2003), Mackenzie Carroll took home the gold medal overall, winning uneven bars and the balance beam and finishing third on the floor exercise. Carroll finished with a total of 37.75.
In the level 5 (2006) category, Thea Elma finished with a gold medal on the balance beam and a bronze on the floor.
In the Level 5 (2007 and younger), Miah Denis finished the competition in top spot winning the gold overall. Denis won the uneven bars and the balance beam and finished second on vault and floor exercise.
Natalia Simeunovic won the vault, earned silver on uneven bars and bronze on the floor.
In Level 4 (2005), Sophia Augustin won the balance beam and Kate Levinson finished with a silver medal on the uneven bars.
In Level 4 (2006), Teagan Murray won the balance beam with a 9.575.
In the Level 4 (2007) category, Piper Campo finished with a silver medal on the vault.
In Level 3 (2007), Summer Houston won gold on the vault and a bronze medal on the balance beam. Haylee VanSteinburg finished with a bronze medal on the uneven bars.
In the Level 3 (2008) category, Olive Fenske won the all around gold after winning the vault, uneven bars and balance beam with a score 9.683.
In Level 2, Rae Roworth, Paige Trottier, Makena Ivanitz and Ava Roth earned a silver medal overall while, Taylor Campbell, Kaydin Weiler, and Rylea Regier earned bronze overall.
In the Interclub Performance Plus category Shiphra Penner, Seija Bishop, and Jordan Hilverda earned gold overall.
Aida Hedstrom, Olivia Pilato, Nyah Hedstrom, Kaisha Knox, Jocelyn Stone, Summer Walker, Macy Eburne, Katjana Geismayr, Ava Schraeder, Caiya Taylor-Ainslie, Olivia Thompson, Jordan Carson all won silver overall.