Earlier this month the Aorangi Gymnastics team competed at the 2024 NZ Gymnastics Championships in Palmerston North.
Both an aerobic and women’s artistic gymnastics (WAG) team competed over the course of the week-long tournament.
WAG manager Mandy Buckley said she was very proud of how the girls went.
"There were some pretty big highs and pretty big lows, but they all did really, really well.
"We did come away with some gold medals in the aerobics, we also had a number of girls receive proficiency.
"Usually proficiency is at least two points, sometimes more for aerobics but in artistic, it’s two points above the qualifying score.
"Once you get to nationals it’s not the same scoring as you usually get because suddenly you’ve got North Island and South Island judges.
"Most people find their scores dip a bit, so getting proficiency is quite a big thing."
She said Aorangi was also named the winner of the Best Conducted Province Award for Aerobics.
"This is the first time we have won this award, and the girls were very excited.
"The award is determined by the conduct of the team throughout the event, the spirit of the region both in practice and performance and for striving towards excellence in presentation, sportsmanship and camaraderie.
"Our girls were very, very vocal in their support.
Unfortunately, post-nationals, the team have had to say goodbye to WAG head coach Flaminio Oliveira who, due to personal circumstances, had to return to Brazil.
Buckley said he would be a huge loss.
"The girls made sure to get everything out of him before he left.
"We’re lucky we’ve got a really good group of volunteer coaches.
"If there are any coaches sitting out there, though, we’d love to have them get in touch."
Overall nationals were a very enjoyable experience, she said.
"We had six girls who were completely new to nationals, our whole STEP 5 team were all new and then we had two level sixes in aerobics who were new.
"I think the girls all had a good time. We were at the stadium every day.
"It was a flat-out exhausting week, but it was brilliant."
Results
WAG.
STEP 5 team and apparatus: Emily Best, 11th overall, 4th floor, 8th vault and proficiency and Ruby Mosen, 6th beam.
STEP 5 team, 9th overall.
STEP 7 All Around:Georgia Buckley, 18th overall, 8th vault, 13th beam and 6th floor.
STEP 7 Apparatus Final:Georgia Buckley, 7th floor.
Aerobics.
Level 6 Individual: Pypa Winter-Davis, 4th overall, proficiency and Emily Jenkin, 8th overall.
Level 7 Individual: Helena Shelton, 1st overall, proficiency, Paige Townshend, 3rd overall and Nicole Teixeira, 4th overall.
Level 8 Individual: Casey-May Watt, 7th overall.
International Age Group: Georgia Buckley, 1st overall.
International Junior: Annalise Evans, 4th overall.
Pair/Trios and Groups.
Level 6 Pair/Trios: Pypa Winter-Davis and Emily Jenkin, 3rd overall.
Level 9 Pairs/Trios: Georgia Buckley and Annalise Evans, 2nd overall and proficiency.
Level 7 Group: Paige Townshend, Nicole Teixeira and Casey-May Watt, 1st overall.
