Four students from W.L. Seaton Secondary in Vernon are gymnastics champions.
Shayla Flanagan, Penny Bieber, Lily Penner and Nicole Sjoberg flipped, vaulted and balanced their way to the top spot at the B.C. High School Level Three Provincial Championship on Thursday, March 13 in Delta.
The Seaton senior gymnastics team competed in numerous events, such as the beam, vault, bars, and floor. Their combined score was enough to win the provincial championship.
"For months, they have been training really hard because this is the first time Seaton has had a team compete at provincials in a long time," said team manager Cheryl Dowler. "We knew they were ready for provincials, but we were still a little blown away by their fantastic results."
Over 240 gymnasts competed at the two-day competition. The 44 schools who took part were slotted into one of five levels.
The level three Seaton team was led by Flanagan. The Grade 9 student took first in the vault, first on bars, second on beam and first on the floor. She also won the individual provincial title, with an all-around score of 38.000.
Bieber also won the all-around competition as a Grade 10. She took first in vault, second on bars and eighth on beam.
Penner, Grade 12, nabbed a silver on vault and a bronze on the beam.
Sjoberg, Grade 10, just missed the podium on bars and was 11th in the all-around competition.
The fearsome foursome was coached by Kennedy Guilbeau.
"Thank you to the Seaton staff for cheering on the girls, they are so proud to represent Seaton," added Dowler. "Of course, thank you to our team’s two North Valley Gymnastics’ coaches, Kennedy and Brianna for all their knowledge, training, and support. The girls could not have done this without them."
