Apollo’s Rock and Roll Invitational a Huge Success

The Apollo Gymnastics Club flipped for joy when they received sanction approval from Gymnastics Ontario, allowing the Club to Host its first Invitational Power Tumbling competition. The one-day rock ‘n’ roll themed event took place over the weekend, with participants from North Bay, Sudbury and Alliston testing their tumbling skills and aiming for top spot on the podium.

Apollo had 25 athletes from the recreational and competitive program take part in the competition.

The recreational gymnasts who competed in the men’s and women’s beginner 6 and 7-year-old division included Mackenzie Madore, Julie Whitehead, Kate Hunt, Cory Neil, Sally Duhaime, Mason Cook and Caedan Carriere. As per Gymnastics Ontario regulations, athletes under the age of 8 are unable to compete for ranking.

Due to the restriction, each participant received a gold medal all-around and a certificate with Judges feedback instead. However, Cory Neil was the recipient of the Judges award for having the “cleanest cartwheels and round-offs."

Saturday morning saw competitors, Gia Waram, Kaitlyn Francis, Michaela Seidel, Emily Hobbs, Megan Simola and Cheyenne Corbeil compete for the first time. Waram earned 3 gold medals - including the coveted all around finish. Francis secured a spot on the podium with 3 silver medals and teammate Seidel was the bronze medalist on both passes and all-around. Hobbs, Simola and Corbeil finished 4th, 5th and 6th respectively in the beginner age 8+ division.

“We loved having the recreational athletes participate in the competition,” said Jen Lavigne, Apollo’s Head Coach and tumbling Meet Director.

“These athletes train between 1 and 4 hours a week, and have worked really hard to prepare for this event. It gave them an opportunity to showcase the skills they have been working on in a fun, yet challenging environment.”

David Conway and Domenic Viczian competed in the Men’s Junior age 8+ division. Conway won gold on his 1st pass and silver on his 2nd pass. He finished with a silver medal all-around. Viczian earned 3 bronze medals for both passes and his overall performance. In the Women’s junior 8+ portion of the competition, Christina Goode placed 5th on her first pass and all-around and teammate Zoey Polhill placed 5th on her second pass and 6th overall.

Meagan Hester, Sydney Knight and Trista Hester finished the day as the gold, silver and bronze medalists respectively, in the all-around women’s senior 12+ category. Meagan Hester took the title, earning 3 gold medals at the end of the day. Knight secured a gold for her first pass and 2 silver medals. Trista Hester took home 3 bronze medals for both passes and over-all. Carly Gagne won a silver medal for her 2nd pass, a bronze for her 1st pass, and was the silver medalist in the all-around women’s senior 9-11 year old division.

Jack Chadbourne, competing in the men’s intermediate 8+ division, earned a gold medal for his 1st pass, a silver for his 2nd pass and was the silver medalist all-around. Angela Green earned 2 bronze and additional bronze medal for her over-all effort in the women’s intermediate 8+ division.

Taylor Vaillancourt and Alison Fung competed in the Provincial portion of the competition. Vaillancourt was the gold medalist for the optional and compulsory passes. She was also the Provincial D all-around category winner. Fung earned 3 silvers during the competition- two for her optional and compulsory passes and one for her over-all efforts in the Provincial B and C combined division. She was also the recipient of the judges’ award for have the “longest back handsprings."

The Apollo Team was coached during the competition by 2009 Power Tumbling Provincial Champion, National Silver Medalist and Apollo Competitive Coach Nick Entwistle.

“The athletes did very well and everyone is really excited to compete again next year,” said Entwistle.

The Rock ‘N’ Roll Invitational competition required many hours to organize and execute, and Apollo’s volunteer parents proved invaluable during this process. The event was well received by all the athletes, parents and coaches in attendance, and the registration is expected to grow next year.

The Apollo athletes are now gearing up for their year-end Performance Night - a showcase of group and individual routines - taking place June 18th from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Admission is free.

Submitted to BayToday.ca