'Unprecedented' number of PoCo gymnasts to compete at 2023 westerns

A pair of Tri-Cities gymnastics clubs are sending several athletes to two major tournaments to represent Team B.C.

Seventeen (17) artistic athletes combined from TAG Gymnastics (Port Coquitlam) and Club Aviva (Coquitlam) are scheduled to compete at the 2023 national championships next month.

As well, 22 will be flying tonight (April 27) for the western Canadian championships in Spruce Grove, Alta.

You can find a list of the participating athletes below.

The athletes qualified for the regional meet this weekend after placing in the top six in their respective categories during the trials in Abbotsford in March.

The national qualifiers were held in Surrey during the B.C. provincials meet in early April.

TAG, you're it!

TAG Gymnastics will be well-represented both at nationals and westerns.

In fact, with 16, the PoCo-based organization is sending the most athletes with Team B.C. to northern Alberta — an "unprecedented" number from a single club, according to a team spokesperson in an email to the Tri-City News.

This includes Belcarra's Elizabeth Noble, who won a bronze medal with the province's girls' gymnastics team at the Canada Winter Games in February.

The 17-year-old recorded the highest score for B.C. in three of the four team events — floor exercise, vault and uneven bars — en route to the Tri-Cities' first piece of hardware at the Prince Edward Island event.

She'll also be competing at nationals in Richmond with her Level 10 group and will look to land a seventh medal on the Canadian stage.

As well, Canadian senior national team member Sydney Turner is set to get some reps at the same meet.

The Port Coquitlam product is coming off a podium finish overseas after winning bronze in floor exercise at the Jesolo International in Italy, March 30 to April 2.

The Riverside Secondary student, who finished fifth in the all-around competition, was promoted to the maple leaf 'A' group that claimed fourth in the team event.

It's the 13th international medal for Turner since joining Canada's top artistic women's gymnastics team in 2020.

Aviva la vida!

Meanwhile, six gymnasts from the Coquitlam-based Club Aviva are scheduled to tumble at nationals.

This includes three that'll also get to fine-tune their skills at westerns this weekend: Kimiko Pausche, Abby Schmidt and Brooklyn Steinfort.

Schmidt won the high-performance junior provincial championship in the all-around competition, which included individual golds on the beam and vault, while Pausche salvaged bronze in the Level 10, 2008-2009 group's all-around event.

Carlaya Millin, whom, alongside Schmidt, is set to compete in the high-performance category at nationals as well after winning the novice all-around contest at the B.C. championships, including gold in vault and floor exercise.

The national artistic gymnastics championships are scheduled for May 18 to 22 at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

Westerns are set for April 27 to 29 in Spruce Grove, Alta.

The Tri-Cities competing athletes are as follows (in alphabetical order):

Club Aviva

Claire Ji
- Westerns (L8)
Carley Leakos
- Westerns (L10)
Zoe Lorz
- Westerns (L9)
Carlaya Millin
- Nationals (high-performance, novice)
Sophie Patterson
- Nationals (high-performance, senior)
Kimiko Pausche
- Nationals (L10)
- Westerns (L10)
Abby Schmidt
- Nationals (high-performance, wildcard)
- Westerns (L10, wildcard)
Brooklyn Steinfort
- Nationals (L9)
- Westerns (L9, wildcard)