The Sudbury Laurels WAG (Women's Artistic Gymnastics) crew really put themselves to the test two weekends ago in St Catharines.

Foregoing first qualifier meets that were closer to home, the locals challenged themselves against top end competitors from the Golden Horseshoe, passing the test with flying colours.

The 22-member team collected a very nice bounty of podium finishes while mixing in a whole lot of personal best scores along the way at Gymnastics Energy.

The young guns were particularly notable, garnering five of the top six slots in the all-around standings for the Level 2 nine year-old bracket.

Mackenzie Stevens (1st - AA; 1st - vault; 2nd - floor), Winnie Haywood (2nd - AA; 1st - bars; 3rd - beam), Lucianna Javier (3rd - AA; 3rd on vault and floor), Addison Quenneville (4th AA - 2nd on vault and beam) and Madison Pelletier (6th - AA; 2nd on vault and beam) accounted for the surge of Sudbury talent in this division.

Following in the footsteps of her older brother (Connor), Cadence MacDonald won her group (Level 2 - Age 10) with a huge score of 38.025 in her first ever competition, joining the majority of the local Level 2 contingent in getting their feet wet at their inaugural qualifying meet.

Up one level (Level 3 - Age 10), the Laurels continued to shine as Bria Recoskie (1st on vault; 3rd on beam and floor) garnered all-around gold while Valerie Laverdière (3rd on bars; 4th on vault and beam) and Madison Lynds (4th on bars and beam) also enjoyed top six showings.

With the entire quartet of Level 4 - Age 10/11 making the jump up one category this winter, the first qualifier was a great chance to get their feet wet as the entire crew cracked the top ten overall: Grace Currie - 5th (3rd on vault); Klara Martic - 6th (3rd on beam); Annabella Wiley - 8th; Brooklyn Geddes - 10th.

Other hardware recipients at Level 4 included Hermione LeCoz (age 12 - 1st on vault; 3rd on floor) and Kinslie Einoff (age 13 - 3rd on floor).

Personal best scores were the order of the day for the Level 6 contingent as Camilla Burns (age 13 - 2nd - AA; 3rd on vault and bars), Isabelle Pelletier (age 13 - 3rd on floor) and Brooke Bernstein (age 12 - 2nd - AA; 1st on vault; 2nd on beam and floor) all managed to raise the bar.

Closing off with the more familiar names (Level 7), Jennifer Istwaard (age 16+ - 1st - AA; 1st on bars; 2nd on vault), Brooke Wylie (age 16+ - 5th - AA; 1st on vault; 3rd on floor), Naomi Lake (age 15 - 2nd on beam) and Desirée Malmiste (age 12 - 9th - AA) continue to represent the gym with pride and excellence.