Cranbrook's Leanne Perrich likes the sound of being B.C. Winter Games champion.

She earned the distinction in gymnastics with a near-flawless floor exercise routine Saturday in Terrace. She won gold with a score of 12.7.

There were a handful of girls who competed after her, and Leanne thought they might have done enough to beat her.

“I didn't really see the scores until the medal presentation, and then they called my name,” said the 13-year-old, who admitted to being surprised at the announcement.

Coach Garry Ricks got a kick out of Leanne's reaction.

“We kind of knew before, so as soon as they said, ‘Zone 1' we were looking at her, and she had a sign of shock on her face. She was really excited.”

Ricks and fellow Key City Gymnastics Club coach Allison Browne made up two-thirds of the Kootenay coaching crew.

Michelle Ricks was also present, as provincial sport organizer for gymnastics.

Leanne's Key City compadres Julie Bolko and Jayleen Lim were also up in Terrace, competing at the P3 level.

Leanne moved up to P4 this year, and had been in a couple of competitions before flying up to the Winter Games

Saying she competed with mixed results so far this year, Leanne wound up far exceeding her goal up north.

“I kind of wanted to place in the upper half, but I didn't really know what to expect,” she said.

The score of 12.7 marked a personal best at this level, and she will be going to provincials early next month with high confidence.

“I'll have high expectations now,” said Leanne, who also finished sixth in the beam competition.

Ricks said knowing she can beat competitors from the gymnastics hotbed of the Lower Mainland will give Leanne a big boost.

“She's one of those kids that works hard, and it's her first year at Level 4,” he said. “Going into provincials, that's a great starting point.”

Her gold was one of only two picked up by Kootenay athletes this year. Cranbrook archer Kaitlyn Gagne earned the other (see related story).

Leanne joins Sidney Reist as sole Key City Gymnastics medalists at the B.C. Winter Games. Reist won bronze in each of the 2006 and 2008 editions.

“We were kind of the underdogs, so it wasn't until recently — the past three games — where we started to be medal contenders,” said Ricks.

OLYMPIC SPIRIT

These B.C. Winter Games came on the tail of another set of games hosted in the province, and Ricks said the Olympic spirit was evident up in Terrace.

“They had kind of came off that wave of how Canada did in hockey and the whole uniting of a country,” he said. “You saw Yonge Street in Toronto in the news and they're all hugging strangers, and down on Robson (in Vancouver) they're doing the same thing; it was all across Canada. I think it was really good for the kids. They felt that excitement, and it spilled over into the (B.C.) games.”

Before competition started up last Friday, Richard Ikeda spoke to the gymnasts about the Olympic movement and his experiences as an athlete at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. He is now a coach based in Abbotsford.