Kaylee Oberg had no expectation her day in the spotlight at the B.C. Secondary School provincial gymnastics championships at PGSS would produce a medal moment. She just wanted to place in the top 10.
But when the Level 4 competition wrapped up Friday afternoon, there was a silver medal waiting for the 13-year-old D.P. Todd student after she nailed down second place overall in the 19-athlete competition. Sarah Tobin of Earl Marriot (Surrey) won gold and Aisha Francis of Lord Tweedsmuir (Surrey) was the bronze medalist.
"I stuck my beam routine; I've been having trouble with my back handsprings but not today," said Oberg. "My vault was way better than normal, I got a tip to kind of like sprint down the runway and I tried it and it worked better. It helped me pop off faster."
Oberg finished second in parallel bars, fourth in vault, fifth in balance beam and 11th in floor exercise for a total score of 35.175, two-tenths of a point behind Tobin (35.375). Oberg hadn't posted a top-10 finish in her previous three years at the high school provincial meet.
"I actually thought I wouldn't place overall (in the top 10)," said Oberg. "I was really nervous because in floor because the last provincials I was in (last year's B.C. club championships) I bailed my back tuck, I didn't do it and got really upset. This year I did it."
Now in her 12th year of gymnastics, Oberg hopes to carry the momentum of her silver medal performance into next weekend's Surrey Invitational club meet.
In other local Level 4 overall results, Bianca Thompson of Quesnel junior secondary was seventh, Mary Kate Barwise of Kelly Road was eighth, Samantha Thomas of College Heights was ninth, Bronwyn Ellington of Kelly Road was 13th, Dallyn Long of D.P. Todd was 14th and Alyssa Schneider of Quesnel was 17th. Thompson won the parallel bars, Barwise earned second-place ribbons for vault and floor and Long was the third-place finisher in vault.
Jessica Higgins of Quesnel, 14, captured gold in the 17-athlete Level 5 girls competition. Higgins won the parallel bar event, was fourth in floor, seventh in vault, and sixth in beam, totaling 35.950 points, a half-point ahead of silver medalist Alexis Romero of St. Thomas Aquinas (North Vancouver. Ava Groves of St. Patrick (Vancouver) won bronze (35.500).
Alia Wilson of Duchess Park was fifth overall (35.150), posting a second-place result in vault and a third-place finish in bars. Wilson has moved up to Level 10 (the highest possible) in club competitions and this was her first year trying out her new routines in a high school event. She placed eighth in beam and eighth in floor.
"I think (overall) it was pretty good," said Wilson, 14, who was fourth overall in Level 5 last year. "The vault was the best for me. Both vaults were pretty good. It's definitely harder (competing with Level 10 skills). I've been getting more skills to move up a level.
"For beam I've got a side aerial, which is like a cartwheel without hands," she said. "It's kind of scary but I've been working on it for a while."
There were no medals handed out for top-three placings in individual events but Rhiana Palfy's first-place ribbon for winning the balance beam event was as good as any hardware. The 17-year-old College Heights student made a last-minute change to her routine and it put her over the top. She picked up nine of possible 10 points in her 90-second beam routine, which moved her up to eighth overall (34.675).
"I ended up adding a skill right at the beginning, which was super-unexpected - I figured I had to get a connection so I just threw one together," said Palfy. "I was supposed to do a dive cartwheel but instead I did a cartwheel round-off because I wobbled on the dive cartwheel.
"I've done it in practice and started doing it in January but competing, usually the nerves are a lot higher. Today I was just really relaxed seeing judges at home. I was a little freaking out and I was supper-happy I landed that, it was a lot of pressure off my shoulders. I don't think I've done a better beam routine before."
Palfy started gymnastics when she was three and this is her last year of artistic competitions. The Prince George Gymnastics Club veteran intends to stay with the club and focus on trampoline events next year while she's enrolled in the College of New Caledonia's engineering program.
"I just wanted to be happy with my results because this is my last high school's," said Palfy, who trains 24 hours per week. "I just want to finish off the year with good results and be happy with my routines.
"I'm not very brave, relative to other gymnasts. This was definitely the first time I've won an event, which I wasn't expecting because a lot of the girls can pull off higher scores than I got. I hit my floor routine and I hit my vault and was super-happy with it. I scored around two points higher than I usually score."
In other local Level 5 results, Sydney Hamilton of Duchess Park placed 12th.
In the Level 3 competition on Thursday, Hanna Pidocke and Emily MacDonald, both of College Heights, placed second and third overall respectively, behind gold medalist Madeleine Woodward of McMath (Richmond). In Level 2 girls, Josie Duque of Duchess Park was fifth overall. Carissa Sadlo of Delta was first, Grace Zonneveld of South Delta finished second and Madison Kisil of Kitsilano (Vancouver) placed third. Emily Bracken of St. Thomas Aquinas won the junior girls competition, Hannah Willows of Argyle (North Vancouver) was second and Jade Bragagnolo of South Delta was third.
The boys events start today at 8 a.m. and wrap up by noon.
