Hours, and in some cases years, of hard work are paying off for gymnasts competing in Petaluma’s Redwood Empire Gymnastics club as the young athletes aim for gold in state, regional and national-level competitions before closing out a hugely successful season.
It was after Redwood Empire Gymnastics was named Club of the Year for Northern California this year that gymnasts brought home numerous medals from seven different championship events between March and June, in competitions put on by both USA Gymnastics and the National Gymnastics Association.
Through it all, while the athletes aim for high scores, their main goal continues to be to simply enjoy the sport.
“It’s important in our organization that we’re training not just athletes but human beings,“ said Maureen Koehler, who has coached the girls team for 14 years and has been a head coach for nearly three decades overall in her career. ”We want them to have fun, we want them to go out there and show their best they can do and represent Redwood Empire.“
And that they have.
At the USAG state championship in March, which took place in Roseville, Galilee Vestnys took second place on vault, beam and floor and third place all around for the Level 10 girls. Also a Level 10 competitor, Hadara Rostocil got second place for her floor routine.
Level 9 competitor Evann Feldman also got second place on floor, and Level 7 Sofia Osorio got an all-around third place and third on vault, beam and floor.
Level 8 competitor Soraya Rostocil was named the state all-around champion for her level, also getting first place on vault, beam and floor. Also for Level 8, Tanya Felix took the gold on bars and beam, and Lucy Hansen got second on floor.
In Level 7, Kalen Agin and Valentina Orozco got third place on beam, and Lily Phetphadoung got second place on beam.
Then, at the USAG regional championships in April, Vestnys got a first place win on vault, and Rostocil took first place on beam and floor. Hansen took third place on beam and floor, while Felix got first place on bars and beam.
Level 7 competitor Sofia Osorio got fourth on beam, with Agin taking third and Phetphadoung fifth on beam. Orozco also scored a second-place finish on floor.
Vestnys, a freshman at Casa Grande who has quickly advanced and is now in her first year on Level 10, was the only Redwood Empire Gymnastics athlete to qualify for USAG Level 10 National Championships in Daytona Beach in May.
“This is challenging and an honorable meet to qualify into, as they only take the top seven kids from each age group at regional championships,” Koehler said.
At the national event, Vestnys placed 12th on vault and 13th on floor, out of 60 athletes from across the U.S.
Feldman, who first took up gymnastics at 6 years old, also qualified from regionals for the USAG Western National Championships for Level 9, which took place in May in Iowa, where she scored third place on floor.
Redwood Empire athletes also scored high at the NGA State Championships, which took place at the end of April in Santa Rosa. That included first place wins all-around, as well as on floor and on beam, for Phetphadoung, and a first place win for Lula Diego on Level 7 beam. Agin also got an all-around win and second place on beam, while Rostocil was the all-around champion for Level 8 and got first place on vault and bars. Feldman got the all-around gold for Level 9 and first place on vault, beam and floor.
At the Gold Level, Emmy Barahona earned the all-around champion title, while Scarlett Mullis got first place on floor and beam. Maeve Sheehy also got first place on floor. At the Silver Level, Adelaide Headley also got first place on beam.
Moving on to the NGA Regional championships, which took place in mid-May in Reno, Agin earned the Western Regional All Around champion title for Level 7 and regional team qualifier, and also got first place on beam and floor. Phetphadoung earned fourth place on floor and Diego earned second on beam.
For Level 8, Hansen earned the Regional All Around Champion title and got first place on vault, beam and floor.
For the Bronze Level, Nora Zanzi and Thea Berusch each were named All Around Regional Champion and Regional Team Qualifier.
The boys team, which is coached by owner Eric Van Der Meer, also got multiple wins at the NGA State and NGA Regional championships.
At the state competition, Level 10 athlete Keyani Rostocil got first place on vault and parallel bars, while Level 9 competitor Miles Deering earned first place on floor, pommel horse, rings, parallel bars and vault.
Level 6 competitor Jaden Karr also got first place on pommel horse, and Drew Whiteacre got a first place win on vault, rings and floor. For Level 5, Jace Beasley got an all-around first place as well as wins on parallel bars and rings.
On Level 3, Luke Miller got second place on pommel horse, rings and parallel bars, and Jaxon Karr got sixth place on vault. Will Haas also earned fourth place for his floor exercise, and Sean Davison finished eighth on parallel bars.
At the NGA Regional event, Rostocil earned the Regional Champion title on vault, rings and parallel bars, while Deering earned the same for Level 9 on floor, rings, vault and parallel bar.
Whiteacre also got the gold for rings, parallel bar and an all around win for Level 6, and Beasley scored a perfect 10 for his floor exercise and was named regional floor champion.
Miller was named all-around champion for Level 3 and got first place on vault and parallel bars, with Haas getting second place for his floor exercise. Cyrus Heuer also got fourth on vault, Davison got fourth on floor and sixth all around, and Karr finished eighth place on floor.
About two dozen athletes from both the girls and boys teams this week headed to the NGA National competition in Anaheim.
Amelia Richardson is a staff writer for the Argus-Courier. She can be reached at amelia.richardson@arguscourier.com or 707-521-5208.
Source: Redwood Empire gymnasts win big at national, regional events
