Gymnasts fall to seasoned Wildcats

Apr. 4, NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYM—

The gymnastics team lost to the Walter Johnson Wildcats today in an uneven contest that ended with a final score of 164.9 to 142. Coming off of a close 1-point win over Blake last week, the team had high hopes for the match, but injuries and missing gymnasts prevented the team from coming close to a win.

Freshman Anna Hadfield had an excellent performance, winning third place overall as well as second on the vault and uneven bars, fourth on the balance beam, and fifth on the floor.

Freshman Abby Cember also did well, performing in all four events, winning fifth place in the vault and tying with junior Nicole Poor for fifth in the balance beam.

The Wildcats soundly defeated Blair in all four events, winning by at least four points in each. Walter Johnson's larger and much more experienced team clearly had the advantage over Blair, as the Blazers had some gymnasts performing for the very first time in competition.

According to Assistant Coach Gayle Stamler, "Walter Johnson has a lot of club gymnasts and a lot of depth, and we're a young team. The girls are learning as they go."

Blair was hurt by the absence of junior Lisa Wong, who was attending practice for her club team, which is in training for the regional competition. Senior Jen Nguyen was also unable to compete due to a knee injury.

After the match, the team was still in high spirits despite the loss. They had an informal handstand competition with the Walter Johnson team, and celebrated the birthdays of senior captains Raya Steinberg and Rose Feinberg with enough cupcakes for both teams, as well as all the spectators. Both girls competed well, especially in the floor event, with scores of 7.4 and 7.1, respectively.

"Even though we were missing some key girls, I'm still happy about how the meet went," said Feinberg.