Arts & Entertainment
Old Bridge's Laurie Hernandez Snags The DWTS Mirror Ball Trophy
Hernandez won big with her Dancing With The Stars partner and Fort Lee resident Val Chmerkovskiy.

OLD BRIDGE, NJ— She has another silver to add to her collection: Old Bridge native Laurie Hernandez took home Dancing With The Star's Mirror Ball trophy last night.
Alongside her partner, Fort Lee based Val Chmerkovskiy, the pair won the top prize in the dancing competition show.
This win is just one of many for Hernandez: she took home gold in the gymnastics team all around and silver in the balance beam at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Find out what's happening in East Brunswickfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
11.22.16 Los Angeles, CA because from the moment we met this was the only thing I wanted to do. For three months we worked hard, stayed focused, and most importantly stayed grateful. You did it kid. We did it! Love you forever and ever. #TEAMVALAUR #DWTS #champs
A photo posted by Valentin (@iamvalc) on Nov 22, 2016 at 9:44pm PST
"I’ve always loved to dance and my passion was dancing as well as gymnastics, so winning the mirrorball (trophy) today was insane and amazing,” Hernandez told USA Today.
This is Chmerkocskiy's second DWTS win: he took home the Mirror Ball in 2015 with actress Rumer Willis.
Find out what's happening in East Brunswickfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
What an incredible week pic.twitter.com/2IcuNoCDiw
— Laurie Hernandez ➶ (@lzhernandez02) November 23, 2016
At just sixteen years old, Hernandez is the youngest competitor to win, but not the first Olympic gymnast: Shawn Johnson won in 2009, and Aly Raisman took fourth in 2013.
You can check out the pairs tango/foxtrot mashup, which sealed the win:
Image via ABC/Eric McCandless
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.