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Sudbury Laurels shine at provincial competitions

"I am over the moon. I knew the team looked good heading into the weekend, but this is a new record for our club.
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Sudbury Laurels gymnast Andree-Anne Bechard-Cote performs her beam routine, for which she earned a silver medal. Photo supplied.
"I am over the moon. I knew the team looked good heading into the weekend, but this is a new record for our club."

A medal haul that included two gold medals, three silvers and a number of top 10 finishes had Sudbury Laurels' head coach Lisa Kivinen singing the praises of her young charges following provincial championships earlier this month.

Competing in Windsor as part of the women's artistic team, Tatum Hurley set the tone on Friday evening, earning a gold medal on the vault and qualifying, in the process, for the Eastern Canadian Championships in Halifax in early May.

The hardware haul continued with Kayla Folz, who followed in the Hurley's footsteps, also securing a first place finish in the vault.

"Kayla is an up and coming gymnast with a great deal of potential,” Kivinen noted.

"To win a gold this early in her career is fantastic - I am very excited looking forward."

Returning to the women's artistic scene after competing for a year on trampoline, Andrée-Anne Béchard-Coté continued her outstanding season, placing second overall within her category, earning silver on both the bars and the beam.

"The experience of doing trampoline helped me with my gymnastics," Béchard-Coté said."Taking a break and coming back reminded me how much I liked it."

The Grade 10 student at Macdonald-Cartier competed at Level 5 this season, but seems intent on taking the next step forward come the fall.

"I'm pretty comfortable being ready to make the jump to Level 6 - I have all the skills and stuff," she said.

Progressing along nicely, Emilie Laberge, a Grade 6 student at Hélène Gravel, enjoyed a solid first year moving from Level 5 to level 6, especially in her favourite event.

"Mine is the floor, because I am very springy - I fly when I tumble," explained the 11-year-old. "I really like dancing on the floor. My music right now is Black Betty."

Conversely, the beam poses the biggest challenge for Laberge, who was initially introduced to gymnastics at a gym in Valley East.

"I'm still very nervous on beam. It's getting better, but I still shake at competitions. It's tough trying to stick everything, because it's so skinny."

Adding to the success of the girls' team, the Laurels' boys maintained the pace, posting solid results at Provincials in Burlington. James Tremblay came through with a silver medal in the overall aggregate, while Kari Sakki added a fifth place overall finish.

"The boys have developed new skills that allowed them to compete at higher levels this year," head coach Michelle Seanor said. "I knew they could do well if they hit their routines, and they did."

The Laurels will now send their trampoline and tumbling contingent to the all-Ontario championships in Toronto on the weekend of April 30-May 1, with Eastern Canadians to follow the very next weekend.

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