City gymnasts ready for provincial finals

The excitement level is rising for local high school gymnasts with the 2015 OFSAA Gymnastics Festival set to take place in their own backyard.

Some 250 or so athletes will assemble at the Sudbury GymZone from May 3 to May 5, with the local qualifiers finalized last week as the same venue played host to the SDSSAA and NOSSA Championships.

A Grade 9 student at École Secondaire Catholique Champlain, Mélissa Roussel is getting her first taste of gymnastics at the secondary school ranks, after seven years of competing with both Jungle Gym Gymnastics and Extreme North Gymnastics in Dowling.

"I like it, because you get a chance to compete against your friends," said Roussel, the overall champion in Level 5 at NOSSA. "That doesn't always happen when you're in club gymnastics."

Sweeping first place in her grouping in every event but the vault, Roussel was generally pleased with her performance which advanced her to her first OFSSA competition.

"I think I could have done a little bit better on some things," she said. "My warm-ups were really good, but sometimes you mess up while you're competing."

If Roussel moved quickly into the swing of things competing in high school gymnastics, Carli O'Hara of Sudbury Secondary treaded more lightly.

The 17-year-old Grade 12 student last competed at the city gymnastics meet as a freshman with the North Stars, coming back aboard this year thanks to the efforts of a couple of very dedicated coaches at her school.

Taking part in the Level 2 competition, O'Hara features a far different gymnastics resumé than Roussel.

"I used to do rhythmic gymnastics, and I've been teaching and coaching now for about four years," she explained. "Dance (at Sudbury Secondary) has helped me expand it so much more."

Having no exposure to apparatus like the beam and bars for the past three years, O'Hara worked through something of a learning curve the past few months.

"It was a little bit difficult, a little bit frustrating to begin with, but it's better now, I feel more confident," stated O'Hara. "It's just getting my skills back on the apparatus that I haven't done in three years."

In the end, finishing first on the balance beam, and second on the vault and floor (and first overall in Level 2), O'Hara could not have been more pleased with her re-entry to the sport.

"I thought I had a chance at one or two medals maybe," she said.

The Sudbury District Secondary School Athletic Association and Northern Ontario Secondary School Athletics championships in gymnastics were held at Gym Zone on April 20.

Following is a breakdown of the first place finishers from all six categories on all four apparatus:

Level 1
Vault - Victoria Tardif (Manitoulin)
Bars - Mikayla Aubin (Notre-Dame)
Beam - Mistelle Laurin (Horizon)
Floor - Sophie St-Aubin (Notre-Dame)
Overall - Mikayla Aubin (Notre-Dame)

Level 2
Vault - Christine Cousineau (Notre-Dame)
Bars - Mackenzie Gratton (Notre-Dame)
Beam - Carli O'Hara (Sudbury Secondary)
Floor - Christine Cousineau (Notre-Dame)
Overall - Carli O'Hara (Sudbury Secondary)

Level 3
Vault - Erica Bichel (St Benedict)
Bars - Alexandra Tanner (Notre-Dame)
Beam - Alexandra Tanner (Notre-Dame)
Floor - Sarah Bonin (Notre-Dame)
Overall - Alexandra Tanner (Notre-Dame)

Level 4
Vault - Colleen Bocy (Lively)
Bars - Danika Blais (Notre-Dame)
Beam - Carly White (Marymount)
Floor - Cailey Moxam (Lockerby)
Overall - Cailey Moxam (Lockerby)

Level 5
Vault - Nova Sked (Lo-Ellen)
Bars - Mélissa Roussel (Champlain)
Beam - Mélissa Roussel (Champlain)
Floor - Mélissa Roussel (Champlain)
Overall - Mélissa Roussel (Champlain)

Level 6
Vault - Jennifer Drane (Lockerby)
Bars - Jennifer Drane (Lockerby)
Beam - Jennifer Drane (Lockerby)
Floor - Brooklyn Lavallee (Confederation)
Overall - Jennifer Drane (Lockerby)