An Okotoks gymnast is back as she has qualified for the upcoming Alberta Winter Games — after missing much of the 2019 season with a back injury.
Mia Dionne, a member of the Mountain Shadows Gymnastics Club, qualified for the Zone 2 team for the upcoming Alberta Winter Games by finishing fourth in the JO 7 division at trials in December in Airdrie.
Her best event was the beam, in which she finished second.
“The beam is easiest for me because I was out for a year and the only thing I could do was beam and I got really good at it,” Dionne said. “I wasn’t allowed to do any back-bending and on beam you don’t really need it.
“I couldn’t hang on the bar because of my (injured) wrist and I couldn’t do any pounding. Beam was kind of the only thing I could do.”
The beam wasn’t exactly topping the charts for Dionne prior to her injury.
“I hated it,” she said with a chuckle. “But now I like it because I am good at it.”
She saved the best for last at the qualifier in Airdrie.
Dionne’s final discipline of the four was the beam. She was the model of consistency having finished fourth in both the vault and the uneven bars and fifth in floor before her final event, the beam.
Dionne was at the Games when it was last held in 2018 in Fort McMurray. She won the gold medal in the vault in Fort Mac.
She will have company at the 2020 Alberta Winter Games in Airdrie in February.
Reese Fischer qualified for the Winter Games by winning the JO 6 level at the trials. Fischer sprung her way to the top among the 31 competitors thanks to winning the vault.
“I do a half-on,” Fischer said of her winning vault. “That was my first event, so I got off to a good start.”
She had no problem cracking the top four overall — she was third in the beam and had fourths in the floor and bars.
She said she was confident she could crack the top four to make the Zone 2 squad.
“I have been doing Level 6 for one year before this and I did well at a meet before the Alberta Winter Game trials so I thought I would do well at this one,” said Fischer, a Grade 6 student at St. Mary’s School.
That meet just happened to be her club’s Mountain Magic Invitational in which she won the JO 6 title in Okotoks in the spring.
Practice, practice, practice since the Mountain Magic meet was key to boosting her confidence going into the trials.
“I was confident because we did a lot of numbers (repetitions) and training,” Fischer said.
It will be Fischer’s first trip to the Winter Games.
“I think I will do pretty well, since I did well at the trials,” Fischer said.
Mountain Shadows' Anika Timm also made the Zone 2 team by finishing third at trials in JO 6.
Timm was the lone JO 6 competitor to finish with a score over 9 in the bars to win that discipline.
She reached her goal going into trials.
“I just wanted to do well and make it to Alberta Winter Games,” Timm said. “My bars was good. I did a kip-handstand, free handstand.”
Mountain Shadows coach Deanna Critchley said the athletes could win medals at the Games in either the all-around or event medals.
“Their hard work has definitely paid off,” Critchley said. “They all have their strengths.”
The Alberta Winter Games are Feb. 14-17 in Airdrie.
