It's been a successful few months for West Island athletes. Swimmers, dancers, gymnasts, divers, and hockey players have been busy making the West proud at local and international competitions.
Irish Dancers Impress As World Championships Arrive in Montréal
Kirkland's Bernadette Short School of Irish Dance was well represented at the 2023 Irish Dancing World Championships, held at the Palais des Congrès in early April. To qualify for the World Championships is no easy feat, yet ten soloists and 4 ceilis, or teams, were world qualifiers. Many of these talented dancers took home world medals and trophies.
The Senior Mixed Ceili placed 3rd, the Sub Minor Mixed 8-Hand Ceili 8 - 11 became World Champions, and the Senior Ladies Ceili took home the title of 5th in the world!
Abigail Schaub was 15th in her U15 age division, Mary Roper placed 10th in the world for Ladies U21 and Meaghan Kilmartin finished 7th in the Senior Ladies category!
SOURCE/PHOTOS: Bernadette Short School of Irish Dance.
WimGym takes on Junior Worlds
At the beginning of the month, Wimgym athletes attended the World Junior Gymnastics Championships in Antalya, Turkey.
"Queen of the Beam", Cristella Brunetti-Burns, won the bronze medal in the apparatus final at the Junior World Championships. She scored 12.600 on the beam to take third place, only behind China's Hanyue Yu (13.133) and Romania's Gabriella Vanoaga (12.833).
WimGym teammate Zoe Tsaprailis also competed alongside Cristella for Team Canada, who finished in 4th place at the Junior Worlds event. Gabrielle Elise Fausto was the alternate on the team and was cheering on her teammates. Tsaprailis competed in the women's vault final, where she finished 4th and completed the all-around final in 16th place (47.999).
WimGym was also well represented at the DTB Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, where the junior team, including Gabrielle Elise Fausto and Lia-Monica Fontaine from WimGym and three other Canadian juniors, won 2nd place in the team event.
Gabrielle Elise won first place on floor, and Lia-Monica Fontaine won 2nd place on vault.
Evandra Zlobec and Maddison Hajjar represented the senior team alongside three other Canadians who finished 6th in the team competition.
SOURCE/PHOTOS: WimGym
Open Water Swimming Champion
Eric Brown, representing Pointe-Claire Swim Club, was crowned champion last Saturday at the Canadian Open Water Swimming Trials. He won the men's 10-km race at Governors Beach on Grand Cayman ahead of Eric Hedlin (UVic/Pacific Coast Dolphins).
The top two males and females earned spots to represent Canada at this summer's World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Brown finished 26th in the 10-km at last year's worlds. Swimming Canada Distance/Open Water Coach Martin Gingras, also from Pointe-Claire, will be a team coach.
SOURCE/PHOTO: Swimming Canada
Pointe-Claire Divers Make Team Québec
Many divers from the Pointe-Claire Aquatic Centre made the cut for a spot on Team Québec. Caeli McKay and Nathan Zsombor-Murray made the Excellence Senior team, as well as Beaconsfield's Mia Vallée. Members of the Équipe Excellence Junior include Sonya Palkhivala, Blessing Roche, and Christopher Booler, all from the Pointe-Claire Aquatic Centre.
SOURCE: Plongeon Québec
Dancers Get Top Honours at the Youth America Grand Prix
Ballerinas from the Ballet Montréal Performing Arts School attended the Youth America Grand Prix in Toronto and Boston. The prestigious ballet and contemporary dance competition awarded Kamiko Bostan 3rd place in the classical category and among the top 24 for her contemporary number.
Jacqueline Van Aelst and Juliette Bienvenu's contemporary duet earned them 1st place in the small ensembles category. Jacqueline placed in the top 12 of the classical category and within the 24 highest-scoring contemporary numbers. Juliette was among the top 24 spots for her classical and contemporary performances, and Sophie Séguin also performed at the Grand Prix.
PHOTOS: Ballet Montréal Performing Arts School
Hockey Provincial and Regional Champs
The Westlake Wild U15 A team won the title of Provincial Champions at the Chevrolet Cup at the beginning of the month. With a beautiful 3-2 overtime win, Hockey West Island's U15 A Kings closed out their season as Regional Champions.
PHOTOS/SOURCE: Hockey West Island, Westlake.
Congratulations to all of these talented athletes!
