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§ in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, A pr il 26 , 20 18 | sports Oakville gymnasts bring home provincial titles Nikki Wesley/Metroland Oakville Gymnastics did well at the Ontario Womens Artistic Gymnastics Provincial Championships boasting Seren Jackson's all-around gold, Level 6 Age 10, Leona Liao's all-around gold, Level 6 Age 9 and Sydney Snowden's Level 7, Age 10, all-around silver. h e r b g a r b u t t hgarbutt@metroland.com Leona Liao admits it can be a little scary at times on the bal­ ance beam. "Usually I'm afraid to jump backwards because you can't see where you're going," said the Grade 3 St. Matthew student, "so you just have to believe in your­ self." The back handspring is the el­ ement o f her routine that worries her the most, but at the Ontario Women's Artistic Gymnastics championships, she performed it flawlessly to earn a score o f 9.616 and earn the gold medal in the Level 6, Age 9 division. She would also claim gold medals on vault and floor on her way to the all­ around title. The lone event Liao didn't bring home a medal in was the uneven bars, which is the one she says she has shown the most im­ provement. She was fourth at provincials. "She has talent and she's eager to win," said her Oakville Gym­ nastics Club coach Aleks Ninkov- ic. Teammate Seren Jackson also won an all-around title, tying for first with Kanata's Samantha Stafford after they finished with identical scores o f 37.832 to top the field o f 32 gymnasts in the Level 6, Age 10 division. Jackson earned a score of 9.700 to win gold on the beam, but she still considers the floor her favou­ rite event. "I like the way you can dance and tumble and I like the chore­ ography," the Grade 4 student at Oodenawi Public School said. She did pretty well on floor, too, earning a bronze medal while finishing fourth on vault and bars. "You could practice for 10 hours and she'd ask 'What can I do next?'" Ninkovic said. Sydney Snowden earned two event gold medals, taking first on beam and floor. Though she said beam is her best event, it is not the easiest for her. The Grade 4 Captain R. W il­ son student said she always feel nervous until she's completed her back walkover, back hand­ spring. "I always shake when I'm on the beam, but when you finish that, it lets you relax," she said. I f she was shaking, it didn't show as she earned a score of 9.716, contributing to her all­ around tally of 37.949 that left her just a quarter o f a point behind Milton's Gabrielle Black. Snowden also took gold in her favourite event, the floor exercis­ es and added a bronze on the bars. "Sydney's very strong and has a great body for this sport," Nin- kovic said. Oakville also had three indi­ vidual event medallists: Taylor Spalding (gold, vault; silver, floor, Level 8, Age 13). Holly Connelly (silver, floor, Level 6, Age 10); V iv­ ian Hill (bronze, bars, Level 6, Age 12B). Strong performances on un­ even bars and balance beam earned Alex Tonkin a spot on Team Ontario for the Eastern Ca­ nadian Gymnastics Champion­ ships. She earned a score o f 9.366 on bars to finish sixth in the Level 10, Age 16-and-over division. "I made a couple o f mistakes that I can fix, but I still got my best score all year," said Tonkin, who'll be part o f the provincial squad for the eastern nationals in Oshawa May 11-13. Her coach, Jason Hall, said Tonkin demonstrates "dynamic lines and swings" on the bars. Despite her success on bars, Tonkin says it's not the event she looks forward to the most. "Bars has always been one of my better events, but beam is probably my favourite," she said. Tonkin did pretty well there, too, earning a career-best score of 9.233. That contributed to an all­ around score o f 36.131 that se­ cured a 10th-place finish all­ around. C D SEE OUR MAP OFAPRiL iMPAiRED DRiVING ARRESTS Insidehalton.com is tracking Halton impaired driving arrests. Was there an arrest near you? bit.ly/2Hr15i3 a j GO EVENTS pla n ning a p u b lic event? POST IT h er e : insidehalton/events insidehalton even1 ;ilck ' Register/WeHjogin' or scroll down to 1 Post Your Questions? Email cm m unittK& irie 'tra tand con GETYOUR EVENT LISTED! Publish your events online with yoLr local Medndand Med ia news website and let us help you spread the word. Create an account login and start listingl BEYONDTHE PAGES From breaking news to multimedia features, go beyond the newspaper pages and discover all that the Oakville Beaver has to offer online. www.insideHalton.com VIEW OUR S PRINT EDITIONS RBC Canadian Open back at Glen Abbey c o n n e c t e d TO YOUR COMMUNITY com burlington • milton • oakville ^ I ^ MULTIMEDIA FIND OUT ABOUT THE LATEST COYOTE SIGHTINGS IN HALTON Report your sightings bit.ly/2Bf30nP Get Halton news delivered twice daily right to your inbox. Sign up at insidehalton.com/newsletter mailto:hgarbutt@metroland.com http://www.insideHalton.com