Three Eagles take flight to gymnastics westerns

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This article was published 18/04/2024 (716 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 10-year-old Maribell Teeple tuned in to the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics and found massive inspiration.

Brandon product Isabela Onyshko was competing for Canada on the biggest stage in gymnastics.

“I knew I could do cartwheels and stuff at home and watched the 2016 [Summer] Olympics and I was like, ‘Wow, I really want to do this,’” recalled Teeple, who has qualified for her first western Canadian championships starting today in Langley, B.C., along with Brandon Eagles teammates Tahlia Burton and Jessie Litviniuk.

“I feel like I’m more excited to go to B.C., but the competing, I get nervous about. You want to do really good and prove yourself and you’re just like, ‘Oh, what if I don’t?’ But you know you can, so it’s happy jitters.”

The Neelin senior student started much later in life than most gymnasts, who just about start as soon as they can walk.

Teeple was a strong multi-sport athlete and still competes in track and field. She gravitated to hurdles, taking advantage of her strength and flexibility to clear hurdles without breaking stride and has a provincial silver medal from the 2023 high school provincials to show for it.

Naturally, she said her strongest exercise of the four she’ll compete in this weekend is the floor, with vault as her second. Teeple placed third on the floor at Manitoba Opens last month, and tied for second in the vault to vault herself into seventh place — the cutoff for westerns she missed a year ago.

“I was more prepared this year,” Teeple said. “I feel like last year I was jumping into the deep end but this year I had all my skills and knew what I was doing.”

“It’s a love-hate relationship with the beam for sure. I hate whenever we’re on beam but as soon as it’s competition, it’s the one event I don’t have nerves on because I just know what to do every time.”– Jessie Litviniuk

Competing in Level 8 in the 2009-born and older division, Teeple’s teammate Burton captured the top spot by winning the uneven bars and balance beam.

Burton said last year’s westerns proved valuable in helping her prepare this season.

“It was terrifying, but I was a wildcard last year so technically I was just an extra for the team,” Burton said. “I’m actually part of the team this year.”

She added, “This year I knew what to work for and what I needed to qualify.”

The Neelin freshman noted one key difference in her routine was in the vault, where she hadn’t previously incorporated a flip, so her start score, which is multiplied by judges’ scores, was 9.0 instead of 10.0. She finished fifth in the vault this year and is only getting better.

While it’s a big time commitment for Burton, and the only sport she participates in, 19 hours of training per week doesn’t feel like a chore.

“I get to see my teammates every day and it’s so fun because it’s just another activity I get to do and enjoy and I get to see all these new experiences,” Burton said.

Litviniuk is the youngster in the Eagles’ westerns contingent, in the 2010- to 2013-born division.

For her, the gym is where she breaks away from her admittedly shy personality and draws confidence from her teammates, coaches and evident talent.

“I’m pretty nervous, honestly. It’s just I’m not much of a social person and being with all these people is a lot for me,” Litviniuk said.

“Whenever I’m doing gymnastics, that’s the sole thing that I focus on. Whenever I’m at competitions it truly doesn’t feel like a competition to me.

“The only way I distract myself from my nerves is talking to people. It’s definitely a comfort thing, whenever I’m around [my teammates], I feel a lot more comfortable.”

The Earl Oxford student, who’s heads to Vincent Massey next year, qualified in seventh place with a T5 finish on the floor. She said the toughest skill she has added to her routine is a back layout full twist — or, a simultaneous backflip and 360 while keeping her body straight.

Litviniuk took advantage of her best exercise, beam, placing second.

“It’s a love-hate relationship with the beam for sure,” she laughed. “I hate whenever we’re on beam but as soon as it’s competition, it’s the one event I don’t have nerves on because I just know what to do every time.”

Westerns run from today to Saturday, featuring athletes from Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon and Northwest Territories.

Eagles coach Alex Empey, who attended the event seven times as an athlete and has been back three more as a coach, said her three athletes this year share one significant trait.

“Dedication. They come ready to train five days a week,” Empey said. “They are currently working about 19 hours a week in the gym as well as any external activities or sports that they do have.

“We really look forward to expanding their general gymnastics experience as well as making those connections outside of our club and our province and hopefully meeting those lifelong friends.”

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