Y Invitational 2026: Strive's Pippa McLeod Edges Teammate Allira Brown by 0.025 in the Tightest Finish of the Weekend

Geelong YMCA Gym Club's home invitational keeps getting bigger, at least across the three years our results database covers. Nine clubs and 99 individual all-around entries turned up in 2024; 11 clubs and 158 entries in 2025; this year, 12 clubs across 222 entries in Levels 5 through 7, spread over eight sessions across the weekend of 25-26 July.

THE TIGHTEST MARGIN OF THE WEEKEND

Level 6 Division 3 produced the closest finish of the entire competition: Pippa McLeod (Strive Gymnastics) won on 33.325, just 0.025 ahead of teammate Allira Brown, also Strive, on 33.3. Behind them, Olivia Emeny and Ruby Colgate, both Strive as well, tied for third on 32.95. Strive occupied the entire top four, then went on to win the division's team title too, 102.275, more than six points clear of second-placed Mildura Gymnastics Centre on 96.175.

McLeod's own form makes the margin more remarkable rather than less. She won Level 5 Division 3 at the Niddrie Invitational back in February 2025 and again at the Warrnambool Invite in December 2025, then finished 3rd in Level 6 Division 3 at this year's Warrnambool Invite in May with 33.95, a higher score than the one that won her this event. Brown, for her part, was 4th in that same Level 6 Division 3 field at May's Warrnambool Invite on 33.675; two months later, she pushed all the way to 2nd, just 0.025 off the win.

GEELONG YMCA RULES ITS OWN FLOOR

Host club Geelong YMCA Gym Club made its home floor count. It won four of the weekend's sixteen team titles, Level 3 Division 1, Level 4 Division 1, Level 7 Division 1, and Level 7 Division 2, plus the Level 7 Division 1 and Level 7 Under all-around titles. Dakota Smith won Level 7 Division 1 on 44.7, and Geelong YMCA Gym Club's Level 7 Division 1 team beat second-placed MYC Gymnastics by more than nine points, 135.75 to 126.45.

Smith's win completes an arc across the three years of results we have for Geelong YMCA's own competition: 3rd in Level 6 Division 1 in 2024 (35.45), 3rd again in Level 7 Division 1 in 2025 (43.75), and now 1st in 2026, after a rocky run through the rest of last season that included a 25th at the Waverley Invite and a 21st at the Eclipse Invitational.

In the Level 7 Under division, Macy Bix (Geelong YMCA Gym Club) produced the single biggest margin of the weekend, winning on 46.65, 3.25 clear of teammate Heidi Birrell in second. Bix spent most of 2025 mid-pack in Level 5 Division 1 (14th, 14th, 2nd, 20th across four competitions); this is her first tracked result at Level 7, and she won it by a mile.

It continues a pattern for the club. Geelong YMCA Gym Club's Mariah Milne, Evie Lambert, and Kayla Heskett went 1st-2nd-3rd in Level 6 Division 2 at last year's edition of this event. All three have since moved up to Level 7 Division 2 together, and finished 3rd, tied 7th, and 2nd respectively this time round.

NIDDRIE SWEEPS LEVEL 6 DIVISION 1

Niddrie Gymnastic Club didn't need a home floor to dominate just as thoroughly. In Level 6 Division 1, Niddrie athletes filled every individual place: Natasha Knuvers won on 36.725, Sasindee Sunnadeniya was 2nd on 35.85, Aurora Gazzo 3rd on 35.475, and Sarah Maruo 4th on 35.15. Four Niddrie gymnasts, four Niddrie places, and the club's team took the division's only team title as well, 108.7 to Geelong YMCA Gym Club's 94.7.

It's also a reversal. At last year's edition of this event, Sunnadeniya beat Knuvers outright in Level 5 Division 1, 1st on 38.275 to Knuvers' 3rd on 37.75. Both have since moved up a level, and this year it's Knuvers on top.

Niddrie's depth ran deeper again in Level 5 Division 1, where eight of the division's thirteen entries were Niddrie athletes: Elena Sebastian won it outright on 37.225, with clubmates Hazel Allen (2nd), Ivy Gaut (4th), Zara Ahmad (5th), Abbey Miller and Camilla Truda (tied 7th), Chloe Brooks (8th), and Sia Evans (11th) filling out the rest of the field. Niddrie's two teams took 1st and 2nd in that team event as well, 110.125 and 108.325, its third team title of the day alongside Level 6 Division 1 and both podium spots in Level 6 Division 2's team event.

MILDURA'S ROAD TRIP, TWO DAYS RUNNING

Mildura Gymnastics Centre made the long trip from the state's north-west and posted its own recap after each day. Its Level 7 Division 2 squad had the standout day one, per the club: "Some amazing results and personal achievements for our level 5 and 7 squads first competition for the year," with Zahlia McClelland 4th overall on 42.95 and Eliana Camera tied 5th on 42.9, backed up by a 1st (Camera) and 2nd (McClelland) on floor. Mildura's two Level 7 Division 2 teams finished 4th and 5th.

Day two brought two more podium team finishes at Level 6 Division 3, alongside Strive's individual sweep of that same division: Mildura's two teams took 2nd and 3rd. "2 teams of 3, both on the podium, with every score to count," as the club put it. Hattie O'Grady backed that up with what was, by the raw scoresheet, the highest floor score in the entire division. In Level 5 Division 3, Aubree Davis posted the field's second-best beam score (8.85), behind only Baratta's 9.05, despite finishing 16th overall in the all-around, a reminder that a division's overall standings don't always tell the apparatus story.

“Thank you to Geelong Y for hosting such a fun comp.”

ELSEWHERE IN THE FIELD

Zoe Baratta (Melton Gymnastics Academy) supplied one of the tidiest turnarounds tied to this competition's own history. Early in 2025 she was still finding her level, shuffling between Division 2 and Division 3, including a 40th in Division 2 at the BTYC Junior Invite, before settling into Division 3, where things clicked: 11th at Geelong YMCA's competition last year, then a hot run through 2026, 2nd at the Warrnambool Invite in May and 3rd just the other week at Knox, carrying her to the Level 5 Division 3 title at the Y Invitational outright, 35.2, twelve months on from that 11th-place finish at the same event. Keep that up and a step back into Division 2 wouldn't be a surprise.

MYC Gymnastics brought a smaller squad, its Level 5 and Level 7 Division 1 girls, and summed up the weekend simply: "Our level 5 and 7 Div 1 girls made the hike over to Geelong for another fantastic competition. The girls displayed so much courage and sportsmanship, representing MYC with pride." Indigo Chapman was the highlight, 2nd in Level 7 Division 1 on 43.85, her best score since a 43.95 at last September's Metro South Regional Championships, up from 4th at Knox the week before on 43.5.

A SEASON HEATING UP

The season keeps heating up as Regionals edge closer, and plenty of clubs are still finding their form. Melbourne Acrobatic Gymnastics Academy has dominated almost every competition it's turned up to this season, six of Knox's sixteen team titles alone, spread across Levels 3 through 6, plus a clean sweep of both Level 7 divisions at BTYC. The same weekend as the Y Invitational, MAGA's Level 4 Division 1 and Division 2 teams both swept their events at the Jets Invitational too, first on every apparatus and first overall in each division; Gymnastics Victoria hasn't published the official results yet, but I was there myself, and a full report will follow once they're out. MAGA won't cross paths with Niddrie at Regionals, MAGA competes out of Metro East, Niddrie out of Metro West, but a few results from this weekend, Niddrie's Level 5 Division 1 form especially, suggest both clubs could arrive at the Junior Victorian Championships later in the season in serious form. If each takes care of business at its own Regionals first, that's a state-level showdown worth circling.

Full results from the 2026 Y Invitational, every level and division, are up on the results page.