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Plomp shines at provincials

The numbers added up to a winning performance by Graham Plomp at provincials in St. Albert. The national youth competitor with the host Dynamyx Gymnastics Club qualified for the Canadian championships by placing third all-around at 67.

The numbers added up to a winning performance by Graham Plomp at provincials in St. Albert.

The national youth competitor with the host Dynamyx Gymnastics Club qualified for the Canadian championships by placing third all-around at 67.75 with five podium finishes.

"It was OK but I could've done better if I didn't fall off the high bar," said last year's provincial champion on floor.

His lowest placing was fifth in high bar.

"I did very good with my dismount landing and form but I messed up one of my skills and I fell off so that definitely brought down my score. I could've placed very well if I didn't fall off."

Third place was the order of finish in parallel bars and pommel.

"Parallel bars isn't usually my strongest event so I tried to do the skills that I can the best that I can. I just tried to keep good form," Plomp said. "I was not very happy with pommel because I fell off."

On the floor he was second best.

"I didn't think I would get second because a few of my landings weren't stuck that good."

Plomp scored top marks on vault and tied for first on rings.

"I did very good in vault [14.05]. That's probably my best score. I had a very controlled landing with very good form. Everything went really good," he said. "On rings I made sure I focused completely on good form. I took everything slowly. I held all the strength moves and I made my dismounted a bit harder than it was at my previous competition [fifth place on rings at the Jurassic Classic in Calgary last month]."

Competing at provincials in front of family and friends at Servus Credit Union Place gave Plomp that extra edge.

"I felt I had more of a home field advantage," said the Grade 10 Paul Kane High School student. "I really enjoyed it. It was much more convenient for it to be in my hometown."

At nationals next month in Kamloops, Plomp will strive for top-two showings on the floor, high bar, vault and rings.

"I want to make sure I keep my parallel bars and pommel very consistent so I can place first or second overall."

At last year's national debut in Hamilton he made the finals in floor and finished 13th overall out of 60.

"I'm going to feel a lot more confident and familiar with the environment this year. It won't be so nerve racking and I can focus more on competing there than just the idea of going to nationals," said Plomp, 16, who will also attend westerns next week in Regina.

Provincial results

Dynamyx gymnast Adrian Johnson also qualified for westerns by placing fourth all-around in level 4 at 68.30. Johnson was the provincial runner-up on rings, placed third on high bar, tied for fourth on vault and finished sixth on pommel, seventh on parallel bars and 10th on floor.

Also achieving top-three placings by the Dynamyx male contingent at provincials were Rylin Curial in over-12 level 3 (second all-around at 65.15; tied for first on high bar, placed first on rings, second on pommel and third on parallel bars and vault), Zach Farrell (second on floor) and Korey Matte (first on high bar, tied for second on rings, placed second on vault and third on parallel bars) in under-12 level 3 and Rykkar Jackson (second on vault) in 12-and-under level 2.

In the Dynamyx female ranks, Mckenna Stevenson finished third all-around in P2 novice at 48.500 and was third on floor. Winning their respective vault routines were Shae-Lyn Fontaine in P3 tyro and Madison Fontaine in P5 open.

Representatives of the St. Albert Gymnastics Club produced 12 podium finishes and five top-three all-around placings. The big winner was Reese Glawson in P2 open at 50.001. The all-around champion scored highest on beam and floor and was second on vault and bars.

Rounding out the club's top-three all-around gymnasts were runners-up Shayla Sklaruk in P3 novice at 49.000 (first on vault) and Ereinne Hall in P3 open at 50.017 (second on beam) and third-place finishers Robyn Gilmore in P2 argo at 48.368 (second on beam) and Kimberly Kaplar in P4 open at 48.100 (second on floor). Also earning top-three individual honours was Amelie Gautier (second on vault and third on floor) in P3 tyro and Amanda Johnson (second on beam) and Katie Allen (third on bars) in P3 open.

Results of all the St. Albert gymnasts at provincials are listed on page 58.

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