New Zealand WAG Commonwealth Games Trials

The selection process for the New Zealand women's artistic gymnastics team to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland are well underway. Two days of trials were held in Auckland on May the 9th and 11th. There were six girls from Christchurch School of Gymnastics, Pacific Rim competitors Courtney McGregor, Charlotte Sullivan and Anna Tempero, as well as Mackenzie Slee, Hanna Malloch and Brittany Robertson. Samara Maxwell of Tristar, Auckland also is vying for a spot. Commonwealth Games veteran Jordan Rae has withdrawn due to injury. In other news, Jordan has been offered a place at Bowling Green in collegiate gymnastics starting in 2015. Junior Millie Williamson (also CSG) joined the seniors to trial for the Youth Olympic Games.

NZL Commonwealth Games hopefulls from left to right: Charlotte, Mackenzie, Anna, Courtney, Millie, Brittany and Hanna (From Mackenzie Slee's Instagram)

All gymnasts will compete in the Australian Nationals in Melbourne later on this month before the teams will be named. Below are the results from the trials:

DAY ONE

1st- Charlotte Sullivan 52.833

2nd- Courtney McGregor 51.933

3rd- Brittany Robertson 49.80

4th- Mackenzie Slee 47.800

5th- Anna Tempero 46.50

6th- Hanna Malloch 45.767

7th- Samara Maxwell 41.767

VT Top 3- McGregor (14.167), Slee (13.90) and Maxwell (13.70)

UB Top 3- Sullivan (12.367), McGregor (12.033) and Robertson (11.667)

BB Top 3- Sullivan (13.70), Slee (12.60), McGregor and Robertson (12.00)

FX Top 3- McGregor (13.733), Sullivan (13.133) and Robertson (12.467)

DAY TWO

1st- Courtney McGregor 53.133

2nd- Charlotte Sullivan 51.533

3rd- Anna Tempero 49.633

4th- Brittany Robertson 49.233

5th- Hanna Malloch 47.933

6th- Samara Maxwell 39.933

NB/ Slee did not compete AA

VT Top 3- McGregor (14.10), Maxwell (13.90) and Robertson (13.677)

UB Top 3- McGregor (11.60), Tempero (11.40) and Sullivan (11.30)

BB Top 3- McGregor (14.067), Sullivan (13.933) and Malloch (12.967)

FX Top 3- McGregor (13.367), Tempero (12.867) and Sullivan (12.80)

Courtney McGregor had a stunning Day Two and topped every single apparatus with standout marks on vault and floor. She will without a doubt be on the team and has already gained some valuable international experience this year as well as a silver medal on vault at the Pacific Rim Championships- a first for NZ! Charlotte is also a consistent performer and along with Courtney made the floor finals at Pacific Rims. She is NZ's best bars worker, an apparatus where we are quite weak. Robertson has also had some international success and is a very elegant gymnast strong across all apparatus. She has also spent some time training at WOGA where she met some of the greats!

Brittany meets Olympic Champions Carly Patterson (2004) and Nastia Liukin (2008) (source: WOGA website)

Courtney and Brittany working their split leaps on beam (source: stuff.co.nz)

Anna is a powerful gymnast and could be used across all apparatus in a team final. She is a little older than the other girls and like Mackenzie has come from the levels or 'Step' program in NZ, rather than the International Development Program. Her maturity and experience would be good for such a young team. Mackenzie is also new to elite and has been rapidly upgrading and improving across all apparatus. She is strong on vault, floor and beam. Hanna is a very elegant gymnast and could help the team on beam, floor and perhaps vault. Samara is also strong on vault and floor.

Never before has NZ had so many worthy contendors for the CWG, best of luck to all girls trialing! 

Australian Nationals will be held in Melbourne from the 21st of May to 1st of June.

Sunday Spotlight: Charlotte Sullivan (NZL)

This week's Sunday Spotlight features Charlotte Sullivan, a junior elite gymnast from New Zealand who trains at Christchurch School of Gymnastics. At 13, she trains 32 hours each week and has performed well in overseas competitions, finishing 3rd overall at the 2011 Victorian State Championships  and qualifying for the beam final at the 2012 Pacific Rim competition. New Zealand has a relatively small elite gymnastics programme, so it is fantastic to see girls like Charlotte doing well on the international stage.

Charlotte trains on beam at the Christchurch School of Gymnastics (credit: The Press, Christchurch)

She started gymnastics at age 6 and has been described as tenacious, hard-working and talented. Her best apparatus is beam, where she performs difficult skills including a cleanly executed split-change half-turn and a flic- back layout series. Here she is competing at the New Zealand National Championships, held in Blenheim this month.

Charlotte's beam routine from the 2012 New Zealand National Championships, Blenheim

She is a tidy and flexible gymnast and also shows some powerful tumbling on floor- she has alot of potential! The routine below shows her performance during the team final at the 2012 Pacific Rim Championships. The team from New Zealand at this championship consisted of junior elites from the Christchurch School of Gymnastics. Their training had been severely impacted by the many earthquakes occurring in Christchurch at this time. However, the young an in-experienced team performed extremely well considering their circumstances and very much enjoyed the opportunity to compete against some of the best gymnasts in the world- Go New Zealand!!

Charlotte on floor at the 2012 Pacific Rim Championships, Score: 12.500

Here is an interview with Charlotte and her team mates at the conclusion of the Pacific Rim competition. They are so talented and we wish them all the best for competitions in the future. Charlotte's aim is to make it to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. If she makes it, she will be New Zealand's first Olympic athlete in the sport to do so.

Andrea Joyce interviews the young team from New Zealand at the 2012 Pacific Rims

Article by Imogen Browne (@ImogenMireille)