Members of Okotoks’ Mountain Shadows gymnastics club were mentally zoned in at a qualifying meet for the Alberta Winter Games.
Members of the club dominated the Zone 2 meet in December, which includes gymnasts living in areas around Calgary such as Okotoks, High River, Black Diamond and Airdrie. Eight Mountain Shadows gymnasts qualified for the Alberta Winter Games in Stony Plain in February and five are foothills residents.
“We were hoping to send a number of girls to the games and we are very pleased with how we did,” said Mountain Shadows coach Jennifer Krause. “This is the most we have ever sent to the Winter Games.”
A pair of Mountain Shadows gymnasts did particularly well on the uneven bars, floor exercise, balance beam and the vault at the qualifier in Red Deer.
Shannon McIntosh, 14 of High River, was the top gymnast for Zone 2 and as a result will compete at the top level at the upcoming Winter Games.
“I thought I did pretty good, except for when I landed on my head,” McIntosh said with a laugh.
Despite the miscue, she was able to regroup and finished seventh out of the 14 competitors in the bars from various zones.
McIntosh came in third overall in the vault, which she considers her best event.
She surprised herself by finishing second in the balance beam.
“I didn’t think I would do that well,” she said. “I was just hoping to stay on.”
Jordynn Mar finished second among the Zone 2 gymnasts. Not bad, considering she hadn’t practiced for a few weeks due to an ankle injury.
“I had the floor exercise first and I was nervous because I didn’t get to do what I wanted to do because of my ankle,” said Mar, a 14-year-old Okotoks Junior High School student.
She did well enough to finish fifth overall in the floor exercise and she also had a strong showing in the vault.
Mar said she was able to stick her landing despite the fact her ankle was heavily taped.
Coach Krause said with almost two months to recover from the ankle injury and to prepare for the Alberta Winter Games, Mar could possibly finish in the top three in Stony Plain.
Okotoks residents Jenna Zeller and Emma Shewfelt topped all 49 athletes competing at Level II in Red Deer.
The 10-year-old Zeller, who attends Heritage Heights School, finished first with the 12-year-old Shewfelt right behind her in second place.
Zeller was the model of consistency, finishing in the top 10 in all four disciplines. Finishing first overall was a bonus, according to Zeller.
“I thought I could make the (Zone 2) team, that was my goal,” Zeller said. “I got first in the beam and that kind of surprised me.”
It was keeping an even keel, which led to her winning in Red Deer, according to Krause.
“Absolutely,” Krause said. “She was very consistent.”
Shewfelt, a Grade 7 student at Okotoks Junior High School, had three top five finishes. She was first in the floor exercise, third in the vault and fifth on the uneven bars.
“On the floor I did really well, even though I took a few steps (coming out of one of her tumbles),” Shewfelt said. “But I guess I showed my routine really well.”
She might have taken the top spot if not for a spill on the approximately four-foot-high, four-inch wide balance beam. A piece of apparatus that would give even a cat fits.
“I didn’t place in the beam because I fell off,” Shewfelt said. “I was doing my front-walk over (an upright somersault) and I wasn’t tight when I came up off of my hands.
“I was kind of disappointed, but I thought because of the other events I could still make it.”
Jayda Newhook, a John Paul II Collegiate student, finished third among the Level II competitors to make the Zone 2 team. She was sixth overall in Red Deer among all the competitors.
“I just have to clean up my routines (for the Winter Games),” said Newhook. “I will be ready.”
The three Mountain Shadows members from Calgary who made the Zone 3 team were Nicole Lavoie, who was first for her zone at Level IV, and at Level II, Cassidy Rainbow and Kylee Rude will represent the Calgary zone at the Alberta Winter Games.
For information about the Mountain Shadows Gymnastics Club go to www.mountainshadowsgymclub.com
