Southeast Alaska Gymnastics Academy (SAGA) gymnasts finished their competition season on Sunday at the Yukon Gymnastics Championships in Whitehorse, Yukon.
Eva Miller was the highest point getter among Juneau gymnasts in the level 4 skill group at the Yukon Championships. The meet was hosted by the Polarettes Gymnastics Club of Whitehorse and featured roughly 30 Whitehorse youth. Reese Ayd, Ava Gauthier, Skylar Oliva, Helene Platt and Mariah Schauwecker also competed in level 4 events at the meet.
SAGA coach Alexis Howard said some girls learned new moves such as a giant and back walkover. A giant is performed by making a full rotation around the bar while the body is kept in a straight line. A back walkover is when a gymnast goes from a standing position to a back bridge and back to a standing position on the beam.
“I’m just proud of them that they pushed through because a lot of them were doing new skills,” Howard said. “We have one that’s throwing giants in her bar routine now, and that’s a first-time thing. For a couple of them that are doing cartwheels and back walkovers on the beam — that was their first performance for that in a meet.”
On May 20, the group hosted its annual Gold Rush Invitational at the Tongass Boulevard gymnastics facility. Fifty-five youth from Juneau and eight from Whitehorse competed in the vault, bars, beam and floor events.
This fall, SAGA is scheduling meets in Ketchikan and Sitka.
“Everyone has a facility big enough now where they can actually host other teams to come,” Howard said. “So we’re super excited that we don’t have to travel too far away to get some competition time in.”
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Addie Buss competes on the uneven bars at the Yukon Gymnastics Championships in Whitehorse, Yukon, Sunday, May 28. (Tom Patrick | Yukon News)
