COACHES at the Swindon School of Gymnastics were delighted with the performances delivered by eight of the club’s rising stars at the South West of England Counties Gymnastics Championships.

Held in Barnstaple, Devon, club juniors Demi Hagan, Jessica Reynolds, Mimi King and Isla McCalla were all in action while seniors Millie Swift, Jessica Lomas, Shannon White and Shannon Reynolds also featured.

Sporting their new club leotards, the juniors were places into a group of 22 and finished unplaced.

However progress was made with Jess and Isla both performing clean on the balance beam.

Coach Lauren Cordingley said the performance would stand the youngsters in good stead moving forwards.

Elsewhere, the seniors were faced with stiff competition – with clubs travelling from Bristol, Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

There was early misfortune for Shannon White however, who was forced to withdraw from the contest through injury.

Shannon Reynolds meanwhile was placed into a large group of 19 gymnasts, performing on four pieces of apparatus.

Despite including several new moves in her routines, Reynolds starred and earned a bronze medal on the vault.

Both Millie Swift and Jessica Lomas then featured in the Over 14s section, performing exceptionally well and picking up medals along the way.

Jessica won the bars and finished third overall in the group while Millie placed in the top three in the vault, beam, bars and floor.

Her efforts earned her a trophy for the highest overall score in the group, to the delight of coach Wendy Payne.

Payne said: “This is nothing more than what Millie deserves.

“She never misses training yet still keeps up with her important school work, she is a pleasure to have in the gym and has grown into a lovely young lady.”

Somerset didn’t host the only regional gymnastics event at the weekend.

Trowbridge was home to the West Wiltshire Invitational Floor and Vault Championships with 21 gymnasts representing Swindon.

Reynolds comfortably won the 10-11 year-old section while Swindon recorded a clean sweep in the 12-13 section, with Amelia Simpson winning gold while Daniella Reynolds and Amelie Tyler earning silver and bronze respectively.

In the Over 15s, White won the group convincingly with team mate Millie Swift a close fourth.

Later on at the event, 12 Swindon boys took to the arena.

Joshua Broadfield and Louis Embling scooped gold and silver in the U9s while Harry Oakley and Nathanael Titcombe both finished tied first in what proved to be an inseparable 10-11 group and Alfie Herbert took silver

Monty Dors and Freddie Oakley competed in the Advance section for U9’s and took the silver and bronze medals, while in the 12/13 years, Noah Hanks won silver and Oscar Saunders bronze.