What a weekend of high’s, low’s, twists, turns and PB’s! The Queensland WAG and MAG championships threw up some exciting competition and Gold Coast Gymnastics Club Gymnasts did not disappoint.

The club achieved its highest ever number of State Representatives with 11 gymnasts making the State Team surpassing its previous tally of 10. What a fantastic achievement for the club.

Not only were gymnasts competing for medals across the 4-day competition, but this was also the last chance to secure State Team selection. Athletes from across Queensland descended on Chandler Arena to show the bumper crowd their routines, skillset, and tenacity to secure a personal best.

In the WAG camp Asher Edwards (Level 9 – Open) secured 3rd Overall in Bars and 6th in Vault whilst Anna Powell (Level 8 – Open) fought hard to achieve 6th Vault and 5th in Beam. A notable mention to Indi McQualter (Level 7 – U15) who came agonisingly close finishing 8th on Floor.

WAG Team Lead Kimberly Martin said “It’s a massive achievement to place at WAG Senior State Championships due to the large numbers in each division. I and the club are so proud of all our WAG competitors for giving it their all and achieving some great PB performances. I am happy with the progress the girls have made and are now achieving higher positions than in previous State Championships. There is room for improvement and the girls will now need to push and work harder than ever to achieve further success”.

In the MAG competition the boys excelled.

Level 7 Open representative Chris Elliott had one of his best competitions and achieved personal best performances finishing 4th Overall and qualified automatically for the Queensland State Team. Riley Lynch finished 9th Overall whilst Tristan Riley, Rafael Siemer, and Charlie Walker finished 10th, 13th and 16th respectfully overall.

In the Day 1 and 2 combined Level 9 U15 All Round, Josef Neumann finished 1st Overall with Sebastian Smyth 3rd Overall. In Day 2 Apparatus Josef achieved a clean sweep finishing 1st on all six apparatus.

Sebastian attained a high finish coming in 3rd on Pommel Horse, 2nd on P-Bars, and 2nd on High Bar. Both fantastic performances by the young boys. Both athletes have also qualified for the Queensland State Team.

In Level 9 Open, Day 1 & Day 2 competition Frank Tulloch finished 4th Overall with day 2 performance highlights of 1st on Vault, 1st on High Bar and 3rd on Floor and also qualifying for the State Team.

In Level 10 Open, Joshua Sharkey and Dylan Tait finished 5th Overall and 7th Overall respectfully.

In level 8 under 14 one of our top performers of the weekend was from Ethan Rohas-Smith. Ethan led from Day 1 and executed well across all six apparatus, finishing 2^nd on Rings, 1^st on P-Bars, 2^nd on Pommel Horse, 1^st on Floor and 1^st on Vault finishing 1^st overall on Day 1. Day 2 seemed more of a challenge for Ethan however still executed well on the Rings with an overall score of 91.815 positioning him in 4^th Overall for Day 2 and making the State Team in the process.

Joshua finished 1st on Vault with Dylan taking out 1st place on the Pommel Horse. Both State Champions make the State Team and are raring to go for Nationals.

A challenging competition for David Tanner in the Senior International category, David came 2nd Overall however did take out 1st place in the High Bar and 2nd on Rings, P-Bars and Floor. David has had some slight injuries of late and battled on, nonetheless. Nationals will be the next challenge for David.

MAG Team Coach Sam Thackway said: “I am incredibly proud of the boys over the past two days of competition. Throughout the lead up and training we have worked massively on teamwork and support. The level of noise we created for each other pushed our performances to the next level. We produced quality routines under pressure resulting in selections for Queensland State and Border challenge Teams. Great work boys.”

Louise Johnson, MAG Competitive Team Coach added “It was 2 days of long competition and hard work. The boys are under incredible stress to round out all their training to deliver across multiple apparatus. I’m sure the boys will say they can improve however the weekend was successful on a number of levels that will allow us to set a platform to build and work from. I am proud of them”.

Ross Cunningham, General Manager commented “Attending my first State Championships as General Manager of the club I was interested to see how our athletes would go. I was blown away how focused and dedicated to achieving success the boys and girls were. I see day to day how hard the staff and Team Leads and coaches work to making our gymnasts into better athlete’s and to see it on the floor firsthand was great to witness. I just want to say well done to all gymnasts you have done yourself and the club proud. To have achieved 11 State Team representatives is an incredible achievement and one where the club should be extremely proud to celebrate. Hopefully these Championships will springboard us onto bigger and better things. Thank you to all our coaches and to our dedicated supporters across the 4 days”.

Click the link for a full list of results.