The Darien YMCA travel gymnastics team celebrates at the podium.
The Darien travel and house team gymnasts competed in the 2012 YMCA State Championship meet at the Wilton YMCA on March 24-25. All levels were successful with the both the level 5 and level 6 teams capturing the state team championship trophies.
Leading the level 5 efforts was Annsley Martin, who won the state all around (AA) title for the 10-year-old age group as well, as the beam and bars titles. Gianna Cardini took second AA and first on bars.
Katelyn Moussignac was fourth on beam and AA and third on vault. Emma Hunter was fifth AA and third on beam. Mackenzie Biele placed fourth on beam and floor while Dorothy Browning was fifth on floor.
In the 7-9 age group, Octavia Molkenthin was second on beam and fifth AA.
Stella Kamensky placed third on beam, followed by Lana Schmidt who was fourth on beam and sixth on floor. Tess Keating scored 8.35 on vault to contribute to the team’s success.
In the Level 5 11-year-old age group, Alexandra Nason was second on vault and AA and third on floor. Wren Stewart was third AA and won the beam title with a 9.3. Elena Savas was the floor champion with a 9.6.
Katie Weinberg scored a 9.0 on floor to place in the top 10. In the 12-year-old age group, Emma Hinton took second on bars, beam and AA and third on vault. Toni Cardini was fourth AA and second on floor with a 9.45.
Meredith McCuskey was sixth on floor followed by Lydia Groves in eighth. Laura Germishuys placed fourth on vault and Carson Halabi scored an 8.5 on bars to aid the team effort.
In the 13 and up age group, Fiona Brock won the AA title with a 37.05 and also captured the bars and floor titles. Her twin sister Aisling won the beam title and placed second on vault and AA and third on bars and floor. Sarah Brindisi placed fifth on bars to round out the Level 5 accomplishments.
The state champion level 6 team was led by Kellie Arevalo, who won the bars, beam and AA titles in the 9-11 age group, scoring 37.33. She also placed second on vault and third on floor. She was followed by Quinn Wolters who was third AA, second on bars and fourth on floor.
Isabel Hansen and Kelsey Fedorko tied for fourth AA. Hansen was also second on bars and beam while Fedorko was third on bars. Tierney Schiff was fourth on vault and third on beam. Charlotte Henry was second on vault, third on bars and fifth AA in the 13 and over age group.
The three Darien level 7 gymnasts continued the winning trend with Lauren Chung placing second AA, first on bars, third on vault and fifth on beam and floor in the 14-year-old age group. Perri Mirable was close behind, placing third on floor, bars and AA, second on floor and fourth on vault.
In the 15 and up age group, Samantha Gunn captured the floor and vault titles and won the AA title with a score of 36.1. She was also fourth on bars and beam.
Level 8 gymnasts were led by Christina Crowell, who won the vault title for the junior age group, placed second on beam and floor, fourth on floor and third AA. Jessica Freiheit tied for the bars title, placed second on vault and was fourth on beam, floor and AA.
In the senior division, Lauren Medwid won the floor title, placed second on bars, fifth on beam and tied for third AA.
The Level 4 team placed sixth in the team competition. Leading the team in the 7-8 age group was Christina Pizzani, who was sixth on floor and AA, second on vault and third on beam. Elizabeth Canelli placed seventh on both vault and beam while Tam Hao Nguyen was fourth on beam.
In the nine-year-old age group, Meghan Sisk was seventh on floor and eighth on vault while teammate Devon Schiff compiled her highest AA score of the season.
Darien 10-year-olds were led by Emma Koerner who was fourth on beam and eighth AA. Alexa Carrero placed fifth on vault and sixth on beam. Emma Williams was ninth on bars while Kerry McDermott was seventh on vault. Adding to the team’s success were Hannah Knight with a 9.05 on floor and Charlotte Juan with an 8.8 on vault.
In the 11-year-old age group, Sofia Font finished second on beam and fourth on vault while Lily Fairleigh earned sixth on floor.
Darien house team gymnasts dominated the Prep Op Intermediate division, with Julia Murray, Marya Von Schmidt and Emily Medwid taking first, second and third AA, respectively. Murray also won the beam and floor titles and placed second on bars. VonSchmidt won the vault and bars titles and earned second on floor and fourth on beam. Medwid was second on beam and fourth on floor.
Halie Metz placed third on beam and Lauren Fusek took sixth. Kajsa Lundeen was third on vault and fourth on bars. Courtney Duker rounded out the team’s strong effort with a fourth place finish for her vault. Both the house and travel team gymnasts aim to continue their impressive season at the YMCA Regional Championship in Glens Falls, NY in May.
