Eagles looking to leave their mark at gymnastics nationals

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This article was published 23/05/2018 (2921 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Eagles club is sending one of its largest contingents to the Canadian women’s artistic gymnastics championships in Waterloo, Ont.

Isabela Onyshko, Quinn Skrupa, Okeri Katjivari and Paola Barahona are in Waterloo, Ont., ready for the competition to begin today and wrap up on Sunday. For a club that has a strong recreation side but a smaller competitive side, sending four athletes is a big deal and it has the quartet feeling like they’re a team that can rely on each other.

“It’s super nice because we can cheer for each other and know that they are there for me and so are the coaches,” said Barahona. “It’s good to feel more confident.”

Barahona may like to hear her teammates cheering her on more than the other three.

This will be the 17-year-old’s first appearance at the Canadian championships. She has worked hard to get to this level as well.

She started in gymnastics when she was three but was away from the sport for a full year while emigrating from El Salvador to Canada.

She’s been training again for just under two years and won an individual all-around gold at the western Canadian championships in Brandon last spring.

Barahona moved up to the Junior Olympic 10 division and added elements to her floor and beam routines. Despite competing on the biggest stage in Canada, she’s not putting too much pressure on herself, she just doesn’t want to fall and ensure she has fun.

Her coach Lorie Henderson thinks she can fare well.

“I think she’s capable of hitting all four routines and hopefully it will go well for her,” Henderson said. “She’s worked really hard and has put in extra time and extra hours. … She was injured a little bit this year, but I expect her to do what she does in practice.”

Katjivari has a bit of experience on this stage as she competed in the Elite Canada event in February, qualifying for three event finals and finishing eighth all-around.

This is a big event for the 14-year-old as it’s her first national championship in the junior high performance division. She’s been working on a new vault as well as a few elements on her floor routine.

“My goal is kind of to try to make the national team and then come into junior next year,” she said. “Getting through routines is a big part of it. If I can’t get through the routine it will be hard to add skills to the routine.”

Katjivari won’t be alone her in division as Skrupa will also be competing in junior high performance.

The 15-year-old made the junior national team last year and would like to do it again this year. But she has a few challenges to overcome this week.

Skrupa landed short on a bar dismount and injured her left ankle, which limited her practices before heading to Ontario. She’s also hit a growth spurt, which adds a big challenge to gymnastics routines.

“I’ve been growing a lot this year, so my brain doesn’t really know where my body is,” she said. “I feel prepared and I’ve done a lot of routines last week so I’m going to go out there and hope for the best.”

If she can overcome those obstacles, Skrupa has the talent to do well at nationals. She competed in her first international event in Italy last month and is looking to build off of that.

This is also Skrupa’s last year in junior before joining Onyshko in senior high performance next year, so it’s a chance for her to build some momentum for that transition as well.

“She’s amongst the top three juniors in the country. Juniors are juniors though, they’re all growing and you never know,” said Henderson. “You can be first one day and 25th the next. They’re not quite as consistent as the seniors yet, but like Quinn said, she doesn’t always know where her body is and sometimes that can happen in a week and it’s like ‘Uh oh, you’re in trouble.’ It’s natural. It’s part of growing.”

Onyshko, 19, is also coming off a big international experience and an injury. She was part of the Canadian team that won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Australia in early April. She also reached the all-around final, placing eighth, as well as the beam and bars finals, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

She tore her Achilles tendon in her right ankle a while ago and is feeling better with it, but she limited her training on the floor and vault to make sure she doesn’t reaggravate the injury.

Onyshko, who was the Canadian champion two years ago and represented the country at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, is taking a different view to this competition.

“Going in right now, I really want to just enjoy the meet more than anything,” she said. “Usually nationals is a qualifier for something and this time it’s just nationals. The format is a bit different this year with two all-around meets going into the second day and figuring out how to hit on the second day is something I’ve forgotten by not competing for the last little while, so I have to figure that out again.”

Onyshko is still looking at building on her Commonwealth Games experience and keep progressing for the world championships in the fall. Her ultimate goal is to stay healthy and compete in the 2020 Olympics.

Henderson thinks she can still push for a spot on the podium.

“She’s capable of what she’s been doing even though she’s watered down on two events. Her execution is very good on those events and that’s also part of your score,” Henderson said.

Henderson is also proud to see such a strong representation from her club this week.

“It’s pretty exceptional really,” she said. “It’s not a large club competitively, we have a large rec program, but for a city the size of Brandon four kids going to nationals is pretty good.”

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