Tuesday night's practice at the Polarettes Gymnastics Club in Whitehorse was an emotional one for veteran gymnast Chelsea Beauchemin.

The 16-year-old has decided to call it quits after nine years of competing for the Yukon. The Northwestel 2004 Western Canadian Gymnastics Championships, which will start Friday morning at Takhini Arena, will be Beauchemin's swan song.

'It's pretty sad,' she said, adding the decision was extremely tough for her. 'My parents helped me decide. It's getting really expensive and I'm growing, so it's getting harder to do stuff.'

It's fair to say Beauchemin has had a pretty successful gymnastics career. She won a gold medal at last year's Western championships ó, the only Yukon gymnast to ever win gold at Westerns ó, and a bronze at the 2002 Westerns. She also competed at the Canada Games. In the past couple of months she's won two gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals at invitational meets in B.C.

'I know that I did well,' she smiled. 'I'm proud of myself. Sometimes I wish I had done better, but you can't always win.'

And Beauchemin hopes the best is yet to come. She's looking for a first place finish at the Westerns this weekend.

'I really want to win all around,' she said. 'All I have to do is hit my routines and if I hit them I can win. I really want to make it to finals on bars and floor. They're my strongest events by far.

'I want to win bars. That's what I'm here for. I've placed on bars at every competition this year. As long as I hit I can get a 9.1 at least.'

Coach Kelly Mock believes Beauchemin has the ability to make three event finals vault, bars and floor.

'She has the ability for that,' he said. 'She's got the start scores and she's been doing great throughout the year. She's made all three of these event finals in past Westerns, not all at once, but she certainly has the ability this year.'

Mock does believe her retirement from gymnastics may be weighing on Beauchemin's mind right now, but the athlete is confident that won't hinder her performance.

'It's probably going to make me work harder and compete better, just because you want to go out with a bang,' she said.

Beauchemin may be leaving competitive gymnastics, but Mock is confident the club is in good hands. Shaun Porter will be competing at his second Western championship and is expected to medal in at least two events.

Zoe Zimmerman, Tony Nguyen, Jasper Martin and George Rivard may be attending their first Westerns, but they have a great shot at medaling as well, according to Mock.

'With Zoe, beam is her strongest event right now,' he said. 'But her routine has really only been evaluated once, so I really don't know what to expect for evaluation this time. Everyday is different with George. George is a superpower house. He could do well on the floor and he could do well on vault.

'Jasper has a pretty decent high-bar routine. It's been a little bit inconsistent the last couple practices, but he has a good chance. And Tony has a great chance on floor. He has a real chance of medaling or even winning floor. He won gold at Twisters (invitational event in Abbotsford) and his routine has really improved since then. He has a higher start score than anyone else.'

Nguyen said he enjoys taking the risks to do gymnastics moves and his favourite event is floor, where he won gold at the Twisters Invitational.

'I like the twisting and the double backs,' he said, adding his least favourite event is parallel bars, where he's been having problems holding and doing handstands. 'I'm excited, not really nervous.'

Nguyen said the hometown crowd should benefit him during his routines.

'I think it's going to help me, to show them what I can do because not many people have seen me do gymnastics,' he said.

Martin said he hopes to medal on vault, where he won silver at Twisters, or high bar.

'I like doing free-hips on high-bar and on floor,' he said. 'High-bar is my favourite event.'

Rivard said he likes the floor, parallel bars and vault because of the flipping elements and the thrill. His goal is to reach the top ten.

For Zimmerman, the most important thing is to 'do the best I can.

'I'll just be happy if I do all the routines like I've been doing lately,' she smiled, admitting she's a bit nervous about competing in front of the big crowd.

Mock believes Porter, who picked up two bronze medals at the 2003 Westerns, has the best chance at an all around medal.

'His scores have been going up consistently every competition this year,' said Mock. 'He's been doing really well on pommel and high-bar (the two events he medaled in last year). He won those events at the last competition (Twisters).'

Porter thinks he may do better at this year's Westerns than in 2003. He hopes to medal on highbar and pommel while finishing at least top ten in other events. In his fourth competitive year, the gymnast said he likes learning the new, 'somewhat scary' moves, although he had too much of a scare in one event last year.

'My floor's not very good,' he said. 'Last year I had a very bad experience. I got very scared on floor but it's better this year than before.'

Porter said he's not sure about the Outside competition, but has been training four days a week for 4 1/2 hours in anticipation.

'I like competition, just doing my routines and just being there the experience.' he stated.

Porter also won a silver medal on the parallel bars and bronze all around at the Twisters Invitational, an event which Mock called the biggest invitational B.C. had to offer.

'I think for them it's just going to seem like another competition,' he said. 'I think that's a good sign for them that they feel prepared at this point.

'They've got a great attitude. All of them come in, work hard and are real goal oriented. They know this is a good opportunity. They're going to be making history this is the first time Westerns are held here and it's the first time we'll have a full boys team.'

Mock said he doesn't know what Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba look like this year, but he is shooting for a top three finish for Yukon as a team.

The one downfall is teams are allowed seven competitors in the boys Level 4 division and Yukon only has four. The top four count, so the local gymnasts will all have to have a great day of competition. If one of them falls, it will still count in the team score.

Mock is hoping the hometown crowd will help his team get it done.

'I'm honestly thinking it may be a good thing, just having those extra people cheering their name and the extra energy in the room,' he said.

And if things don't work out exactly as planned, Mock said he will still be just as proud of the team.

'I'm already happy with them,' he stated. 'I think they're going to represent the Yukon very well. They've come such a long way this year, since the start of the year. It's huge. It's just outstanding. That's an achievement in itself.'