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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, December 17, 2009 · 20 Broken toe derailed Gill's attempt at repeating as Elite Canada champion Continued from page 18 Jordaan could have easily been rattled by the experience on the bars, especially with the beam up next. But the 28 hours of training she puts in each week paid off. "I have a lot of problems staying on the beam," Jordaan said, "but I stuck it and stayed on." Now Jordaan had momentum on her side. The Grade 9 student at Abbey Park is often her own toughest critic. "It's hard to make her smile," said Oakville head coach Kelly Manjak. That wasn't so after a strong floor routine that earned her a mark of 14.500. Jordaan ran off the floor, smiling, and high fived her coaches. It was a scene that was repeated later after she landed her vault. "Yeah, I'm hard on myself," Jordaan admitted, "but I think it's better when I'm happy." For Gill, the 2008 Elite Canada novice champion, it was a trying day. After breaking her toe three weeks ago, her training was limited leading up to Elite Canada. Asked what events the injury would impact the most, Manjak replied "beam, vault, floor, pretty much anything where you need balance." In the one event, bars, where her toe had the least impact, Gill turned in the secondhighest mark of the day, 13.300, and finished fourth in Sunday's event finals. Manjak said it was still a valuable experience, though. "You're not always going to be 100 per cent," he said. "I know she's disappointed. She knows she could have won." Gerber had similar ambitions. "She worked hard for this," Manjak said. "I just had to tell her there will be a lot more meets." The depth of the Oakville program was on display for the locals, though. Jessica Dowling (7th on beam in senior) and Silvia Colussi Pelaez (7th on bars in junior) made event finals and Jessica Savona was ninth allaround in senior. And of course, Jordaan, who only joined the high performance program two-and-ahalf years ago. "She's the kind of kid that doesn't want to be in the limelight. She doesn't want to be the centre of attention," Manjak said. "It was a great day. It was her day." Many more days like it and she'll have to get used to the limelight.