Brooklyn Nicholson drew inspiration Sunday from an Olympian, and it led to an all-around triumph at the Prince George Invitational gymnastics meet.
Using a vault routine named after Japanese gymnast Mitsou Tsukahara, the 1972 Olympic champion, the 11-year-old Nicholson's 12.50-point score was just below that of her 14-year-old Prince George Gymnastics clubmates, Mary Kate Dalla Lana (12.60) and Milan Knight (12.55), but it was enough to give Nicholson the Level 4 overall title.
Her Tsukahara vault requires a half-turn off the vault that leads into 1 1/2-twisting backflip and it carries a 4.4-point degree of difficulty. That series of moves earned her a silver medal at the provincial championships two weeks ago in Langley and on Sunday and it was judged the most dynamic vault of the Prince George meet.
"She did it very well, she was the only one to try that in her level," said PGGC coach Jennifer Watt.
"She just started in Level 4 this year so she had to had to learn brand-new skills. She's a crazy hard-worker and she's a super-strong athlete. She just naturally has that muscle mass and it makes it easier we don't have to focus on that aspect of it.
"She knows what she wants and she pushes herself."
Nicholson totalled 47.35 all-around points, just ahead of Knight (47.10) and third-place Dalla Lana (47.00).
Nicholson, a Grade 5 student at Vanway elementary school, has climbed the ranks rapidly at the club level. After two years in GYMSTART developmental group and one year as a Level 3 athlete she advanced to Level 4 this season. She was part of the four-member Zone 8 team that finished seventh at the B.C. Winter Games. Her gold-medal 12.10 score Sunday on the uneven bars marked a personal best and was nearly two points better than that of Dalla Lana.
"It was a good meet, it was the best I've ever done on bars," she said. "My dismount was high and I almost stuck, and my shoot-up was good. I've worked hard on that."
The two-day event drew 150 gymnasts from six northern B.C. clubs to the Exhibition Park Gymnastics Centre.
Miranda Doerksen, 13, a third-year competitive gymnast, was rewarded for her hard work in practice with a first-overall result in the Level 1, 13-and-under class with 48.75 points. Her Prince George clubmate Samantha Climie was a close second, 1.95 points off the winning total with 46.8, followed by third-place Alyssa Doherty of Prince George, who had 46.65. Doerksen laid down second-place marks on the beam, traditionally her toughest event.
"Miranda puts out the effort and is pretty consistent in training and it shows off when she gets in competition, especially this year," said coach Carol Garcia. "She's really got everything together and worked hard for it. Miranda and Samantha have been flip-flopping first and second, all year, every meet."
Mary Kate Barwise of Prince George captured the Level 2 argo title. Other event winners were: Kimberley Marsh, Prince George, Level 2, 13-and-under; Grace Allen, Smithers, Level 3, 12-and-under; Brodie Needham, Prince George, Level 3 novice; Alannah McCormick, Prince George, Level 3 open; Pyper Burns, Smithers, Level 2 argo; Shannon Schuster, Terrace, Level 1 argo; and Nadine Kerr, Smithers, Level 1 tyro.
Lina Goto (Level 5) and Jessica Pallot (Level 4 pre-novice), both of Prince George, were uncontested in their respective classes.
Emily MacDonald of Prince George and Alyssa Schnieder of Quesnel won the GYMSTART skills events Saturday and Sunday.
The gymnastics season is winding down and Prince George club members have two invitational meets left, May 15-16 in Fort St. John and June 4-6 in Kelowna.
n Rylee Paulson of Prince George placed 19th in the pre-novice women's aspire class at the Western Canadian gymnastics championships in Regina.
