GILROY—Gymnasts from Gilroy and Hollister celebrated the lives of survivors of women’s cancers and in turn helped raise awareness at the annual Pink Meet Invitational at Bay Aerials in Fremont.
The USA Sports Level 3 squad added some gold to its pink attire by winning the team competition with 108.20. It finished well ahead of Nor Cal Elite with 105.975 points, which took second. Central California Gymnastics Institute was third with 101.90.
“This is our youngest team with gymnasts as young as 7 years old and only one seasoned competitor,” said USA Sports head coach Jennifer Yip. “They did an amazing job for being so young. I think they will be a team to be reckoned with in the future.”
Gilroy’s Abigal Trevino and Katrina Cantu captured high honors in their respective divisions in individual competition. Cantu took the top spot in the uneven bars with a 9.25 and the balance with a 9.0. She also finished second all-around with a 35.35.
Trevino took first on the balance beam with a 9.45 and second in both the all-around and uneven bars with scores of 35.825 and 8.95, respectively.
Gilroy teammate Li An Panfil won her floor exercise with a 9.0 and finished third on the uneven bars with an 8.90. All three qualified for the state competition in November.
Two of USA Sports Level 5 Gilroy gymnasts found themselves on the podium, too. Both Natasha Bui and Isabella Saggau left with silvers in the all-around in their respective divisions. Bui also won her floor exercise with a 9.125 and finished second on the bars with an 8.80. Saggau won the vault competition with a score of 8.95 and took third on the bars and balance beam notching scores of 8.30 and 8.975, respectively.
“It’s early in the season,” Yip said. “Our athletes are just getting warmed up. We expect great results this year.”
Part of the proceeds from the meet went to “Unite for HER”, a nonprofit which works to educate women diagnosed with breast cancer about therapies, offers support, knowledge and more. The money raised from the Sept. 18 and 19 invitational will go towards the Pink Unity Grant program, created to ease the financial and emotional burdens of USA Gymnastics and NCAA gymnasts, coaches, judges and their families affected by breast cancer.
