Sports
Algonquin Gymnasts Super at South Sectional
ARHS wins meet and qualifies for the State Championship.
It isn’t over until it’s over. The undefeated girls gymnastics team proved that statement to be true yesterday at Hudson High School where they saved their best performances for last, and rallied past Wellesley High School by .175 to win the South Sectional Championship Meet.
ARHS (16-0) defeated the 12 best teams in the south half of the state in a meet where the top four teams qualify to the State Meet next Saturday the 26th at Shrewsbury High School. Algonquin (141.175) bested Wellesley (141.0), Medfield/Ashland/Dover-Sherborn(138.975), and Mansfield(138.95) to earn a spot at next Saturday’s meet. Shrewsbury finished 6th while Westborough finished 11th.
The Tomahawks started the meet strong on vault, took that momentum through their bar routines, then struggled a little on the beam despite an outstanding performance by sophomore Alissa Wood. Wood earned a 9.2, a personal best score, to help her team on the nerve-racking event. ARHS trailed Wellesley by .10 going into the T-Hawks final event, the floor exercise.
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“I really wanted to stick my routine today,” said Wood. “We were a little nervous, but we knew we needed to stay strong and focused going into the floor exercise.”
Algonquin stayed strong and finished the floor exercise with four successive scores of 9.0 or higher by Abby Campell, Wood, Amanda Hubley and Chloe Herczeg. Meanwhile, on the other side of the gym, Wellesley had a few falls on the beam and was unable to maintain their lead.
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“We stayed on our feet on the vault today,” stated head coach Amelia Davis. “We had some uncharacteristic falls on beam, but we came back really solid on the floor. I am really pleased. It was a full team effort. We wouldn’t be here without the whole team giving their best effort.”
Algonquin will join the top four teams from the northern part of the state at next week’s state meet. ARHS last won the state title in 1994. This year’s team is looking to ride their wave of success back to the top of the podium for the first time in 17 years by staying strong and focused until the very end.
