Gabriel Oliveira and Jasmine Gauthier returned from the 2012 Eastern Canadian Gymnastics Championships in Honcho, Quebec last weekend, with both of the GymZone Sudbury Laurels representatives working their way through to the Tumbling C finals on Sunday.
A 16-year-old student at College Notre-Dame, Oliveira garnered a bronze medal in the men's tumbling age 13+ division, improving with each of his three tumbling passes over the two days of competition.
His final score of 83.20 allowed Oliveira to edge past Olivier Ladouceur-Jalbert of Quebec, finishing behind the duo of Philippe Drouin and Jeremy Bouffard, also both representing La Belle Province.
Battling it out in a large 26-athlete grouping, Gauthier finished seventh in the ladies tumbling Division age 13+ category, moving up a couple of positions in the final, displaying a skill-set that helped set the GymZone athletes apart.
“Of the more than 30 athletes competing in this particular category, Jasmine and Gabriel were the only ones able to incorporate the whips into their tumbling lines,” coach Terra Davidson said. “That higher degree of difficulty helped move them up in the finals.”
In fact, the 0.30 bonus that was provided for showcasing the added skill was enough to allow Gauthier to outdistance both Delphine Gagne (Quebec) and Tia Wamboldt (Nova Scotia) in climbing the rung to a seventh-place finish.
Gauthier posted marks of 27.2, 28.2 and 28.5 over the two-day event, finishing just back of fellow Ontarians Nicole Nieweglowski and Annie Cranston.
While Gauthier, also a student at College Notre-Dame, prepares to move on to university studies next year, Oliveira should make the jump to the Division B ranks, working on the improvements needed to compete at the higher level next fall.
The Eastern Championships wraps up the competitive tumbling season for the local crew, though trampolinist Kyle Tremblay will see action this week.
Tremblay, along with coach Michelle Seanor, will travel to Saskatoon on Monday, site of the 2012 National Trampoline Championships.
Posted by Laurel Myers
