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8 Independent & Free Press, Tuesday,July 5, 2011 Wepf tumbles into national gold medals By EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer SPORTS & LEISURE Even though they hold homefloor advantage over the Akwesasne Lightning, the Halton Hills Bulldogs will hit the road to open their second-round playoff series this weekend. The 'Dogs, seeded second in the Ontario Jr. B Lacrosse League's East Conference, edged the visiting Markham Ironheads 4-3 Thursday night to sweep the best-of-5 first-round series 3-0. Fourth-ranked Akwesasne downed Oakville 3-1 in their series, while sixth-place Newmarket upset third-seed Kahnawake to set the matchup between Halton Hills and the Lightning. The 'Dogs had the option of hosting the first two games of the series this weekend and then travel to Akwesasne for the remaining three contests the following weekend, but chose to visit the Turtle Dome first and then hold the hammer of three straight home dates if needed. The Bulldogs lost their only encounter with the Indians this year, a 6-4 road defeat on the season's opening weekend. Clarington's top-ranked Bulldogs complete sweep of Markham Akwesasne up next Ontario Jr. B Lacrosse League East Conference Best-of-five semifinal series Lynn Wepf figured she might have a physically gifted child on her hands when daughter Savannah-- not long after getting out of diapers-- began literally climbing the walls of their Georgetown South home. The toddler would shimmy up the side of circular pillars in the house and touch the ceiling, with boundless energy and without fear of falling. Now 13, Wepf recently earned two tumbling gold medals at the national championships in Charlottetown, P.E.I., only a few months after making the switch from artistic gymnastics. "When Savannah was two and a half, the Olympics were on TV and I thought she was bored of it because she left the room. Next thing, she shows up with her bathing suit on, climbs the table and does a somersault off of it. That's when I thought, `Okay, we're going to put her into something that she can channel all that energy into.' We're very proud of her." The Grade 8 student at St. Brigid elementary school trains with the Oakville Gymnastics Club's tumbling program under former national team coaches Don Holmes and Niki Lavoie. Wepf's current degree of difficulty in her routines is higher than any other Canadian female competitor in the 11-14 age group and she was in top form in Charlottetown with a near-flawless pass that consisted of seven complete forward somersaults on the 25-metre sprung track. Along with the individual gold medal performance, Wepf earned another victory in the Tumbling Team competition for Ontario by combining with three other athletes from this province to accumulate the most points. She explained that the change from artistic gymnastics to tumbling was made with time commitments in mind. Wepf enjoys sports other than gymnastics and the 24 hours a week required to train for the artistic side was beginning to take the fun out of competing. "They had tumbling in the gym where I did gymnastics, so I thought it would be cool to try it," said Wepf, who is down to 13 hours of tumbling training at the Glen Abbey Rec Centre Game 1-- Saturday, July 9 @ Akwesasne, 8 p.m. Game 2-- Sunday, July 10 @ Akwesasne, 2 p.m. Game 3-- Friday, July 15 @ Georgetown, 8 p.m. x-Game 4-- Saturday, July 16 @ Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. x-Game 5-- Sunday, July 17 @ Georgetown, 2 p.m. x-if necessary Green Gaels will face Newmarket in the other conference semifinal series. The seventh-place Ironheads proved to be a stubborn opponent for the Bulldogs as the last two games of the series were decided by one goal. Markham goalie Joe Gianetto made 60 saves in game three as the home side didn't score until the mid-point of the game. Chris Haynes, Jordan Dance, Michael Licata and Connor Sellars scored for the 'Dogs and Ryan Kelly made 30 stops. Georgetown's Savannah Wepf earned two gold medals at the recent Canadian Tumbling & Trampoline Championships in Charlottetown, P.E.I. Submitted photo and even has Fridays and Saturdays off. "I always like learning new skills and trying my best to get better at it." What has increased is her travel schedule as Wepf will be in Europe on two occasions in the coming months, including an international meet in Ireland this summer and a trip to Birmingham, England in November for the World Age Group Championships. The Canada Cup competition is set for Alberta in July. Although not currently an Olympic event, Wepf hopes that will change one day. SAVANNAH WEPF NEXT GENERATION $ 2012 Civic. 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