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A team of Yukon judokas left their mark at the Alaska State Judo Championships over the May long weekend, returning home from Anchorage with a strong haul of medals and trophies.

The team of 14, made up of athletes from both Whitehorse clubs, had six first-place showings, two second-place, and three thirds.

The 54th annual state championships were held at the Dena'ina Convention Center on Saturday.

Local judokas from the Shiroumakai and Northern Lights clubs attended the meet 鈥� the final major meet of the current season 鈥� which featured more than 120 judokas from clubs across Alaska.

Golds were won in the Bantam 2 division (Devon Rollins), Intermediate 1 (Cassi Jensen), Juvenile B (Andrew Jensen) and Senior Men (Richard Zebruck). Aaron Jensen and Sandy Neumann were the only entrants in the demonstrational Katame no Kata division, resulting in two more first-place finishes.

"You never know what to expect when you're going out to these events,鈥� said Aaron Jensen, head coach of the Shiroumakai club. "Cassie, Andrew, Richard and Devon fought hard for their gold medals.鈥�

Both Rollins and Jensen came in at the top of their weight class, giving them a slight advantage over their opponents.

On the other end, Paige Poelman weighed in just one pound over her desired class, putting her at a distinct disadvantage in the Intermediate 2 class, as she took on girls much heavier. Poelman finished third.

Hannah King and Dan Poelman picked up the second-place awards, while Liam Rollins and Jerry Miller had the other third-place finishes.

The tournament included a new computerized scoring system, which saw Miller fight the same opponent three times after winning the first match. Miller, who took gold last year in his junior division, eventually settled with a third-place finish.

"They had a major glitch in their draw sheet program and for 45 minutes, they had to stop everything and figure out what went wrong,鈥� Jensen said. "Eventually they abandoned it altogether and went back to the old school handwritten kind of system.鈥�

Miller was the only local fighter affected, but was pleased to secure a third-place finish.

Other changes in the American rules saw 132-pound Jesse Collins fighting in the senior men's class at the age of 16.

The Yukon team did not participate in the team competition, which saw top judokas from each age category battle team by team.

"Our kids weren't ready for it, and we weren't thinking about it,鈥� Jensen said. "Next year, we'll enter and give our kids that much more play time.鈥�

The team drove to Anchorage, leaving Thursday afternoon to make it in time for weigh-ins and a referee certification clinic Friday night.

For amateur video footage of Andrew Jensen's second fight in Anchorage, visit http://youtu.be/s_upziMoYQw.

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Meanwhile, 10 local gymnastics athletes travelled to Juneau over the long weekend to compete in the Gold Rush Invitational.

The Polarettes had a strong meet overall, with a variety of athletes finishing at the top of their groups.

In Level 1 competition, Bianca Berko-Malvasio and Alexis Benson finished second and third in their group with all-around scores of 49.35 and 49.1, respectively. Ali Russell, meanwhile, finished third in her group with a score of 48.25.

Matisse Robertson (47.6), Sydney Cairns (46.3) and Maggie Fekete (46.3) finished one-two-three in their Level 2 grouping.

Local Level 3 athletes were led by Emily King's overall score of 47.45, while Megan Banks (46.75), Anisa Albisser (47.25) and Jasmine Bergeron (46.05) also turned in strong performances.