A Prince Rupert gymnast has returned home with a silver medal from a Langley tournament organized in place of the cancelled BC Winter Games on Feb. 19.
Cambrie Bosco, 11, came second in the bars event to secure her accolade at the Christy Fraser Memorial Invitational, which hosted more than 1,000 athletes.
The young gymnast said she was especially excited to win silver at the competition because of the high skill level of her fellow competitors from across the province.
Bosco was joined team mates Kiri Orton and Emma Touchet and accompanied by Erin Hipkiss, Prince Rupert Gymnastics Association head coach.
All of the girls achieved some personal bests and competed well in each event, Hipkiss said.
“One of my goals was to do my connection on the beam because I just started learning that — and I did it,” Touchet said.
The successful attempt left Touchet feeling proud of herself in the successful completion of a series of moves.
The three girls ended up performing last in the tournament, which provided the opportunity to watch the high-performance gymnasts before them.
“It kind of got me pumped up to compete,” Orton said.
Excited and inspired, Orton performed a scale that she had never done before, called a round-off, during the beam competition.
“I didn’t land it, but I don’t really care because I still went for it,” she said. “I was happy that I did it.”
The provincial competition showed Hipkiss and her athletes they are just as good as anyone else in the province. For them, the biggest focus moving forward will be managing their nerves and mentally preparing for big tournaments.
“It was a really good experience for them,” Hipkiss said. “Last time they were down there [two years ago] they were in lower levels, so they didn’t get to see this calibre of gymnastics. So the whole experience for them was pretty special.”
The three of the girls qualified for the event during a December tryout tournament in Terrace, where they beat out gymnasts from Smithers.
The portion of the tournament, which hosted the qualified BC Winter Games athletes, was run as a “tournament within a tournament” along with the regularly scheduled contest.
To have qualified for the BC Winter Games gymnasts needed to be ranked at least level seven out of 10, and be between the ages of 10 and 15. The tournament was held as a hybrid event and hosted some athletes competing remotely.
The next tournament the Prince Rupert Gymnastics Association athletes will compete in is being hosted at home and begins on March 19.
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Norman Galimski | Journalist
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