By Anil Jhalli
A pair of 13-year-old Ottawa gymnasts earned first-place honours in their first appearances at the Eastern Canadian Gymnastics Championships, held May 9-13 in St. John’s, NL.
Nepean-Corona’s Anna Meech and Nicholas Duggan from Tumblers Gymnastics Centre, both 13, won all-around gold medals in the women’s Provincial Level 3 and men’s Prov. L4 categories respectively.
For Meech, the trip to the top step of the podium at Easterns began with her fourth-place finish at the provincial championships, which snuck her in as the final Team Ontario qualifier.
“I was just shocked,” Meech says of her gold medal victory. “It was my first year there and I pushed myself and worked hard. I wanted to win gold.”
Meech originally followed in her mother’s footsteps as a dancer, but decided she wanted to try something different. She enrolled at Corona when she was 5 and continued to balance both dancing and gymnastics for as long as she could. But the time came when she had to choose one and ultimately, her passion for gymnastics steered her in that direction.
“(Gymnastics) challenges you,” explains Meech, who finished first on uneven bars and balance beam and second on floor. “It pushes your fears and makes you stronger. When I’m competing and I do well or I’m practicing certain routines and I do well, it makes me proud. It’s exciting.”
Like Meech, Duggan couldn’t have been more thrilled with his first Easterns experience in Newfoundland.
“The whole year was leading up to this,” Duggan notes. “Now I can relax a little.”
Duggan has now trained at Tumblers for five years, and enjoys the sport’s challenging nature.
“I like learning new things,” he describes. “Gymnastics seemed kind of cool, so I tried it and I really like it. I’m good at it and I have great coaches and a lot of friends who help me.”
Duggan would like to qualify for the Canadian championships down the road and perhaps compete for Canada, but he certainly revels in having taken a big first step in that quest.
“For me, what I am really proud of is having a banner here with my name on it,” he smiles. “I’m just going to keep on training and if I make the national team, it will be great.”
Medals abound for local gymnasts
Duggan’s Tumblers teammate Justin Perry also had a very successful Easterns, placing second all-around in the men’s national open category. Julie-Anne Fiset of Tumblers won silver medals on bars and beam in the women’s Provincial Level 5 competition.
Six athletes from the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre also competed at the event. Arryn Jackle Spriggs collected medals on four apparatuses in men’s Prov. L3 – gold on parallel bars, silver on high bar and floor, and bronze in the rings event, which was won by teammate Alex St George.
Matthew Frosst took gold on vault and silver on rings in men’s national youth competition, while Mackenzie Cox won gold on vault in women’s Prov. L4, and Adrianka Forrest captured gold on vault and bronze on beam in Prov. L5.
The Team Ontario members, which also included OGC’s Nathalie Joanette, all finished either first or second in the team event as well.