Members of the girls gymnastics team competed in States and State Opens meets, performing well despite facing new, challenging teams. States were held at Jonothan Law High School on February 29, and State Opens were held at New Milford High School on March 7. 

In the regular season, the team had a record of three wins and two losses. At States, the team faced new competitors, such as Wilton and New Milford. 

Heading into the states ranked fourth in Class M,  gymnasts competed as a team in all four events: bars, floor, vault, and beam.  

“The Gymnastics team had a great season this year! They went into class M States ranked 4th and finished 6th with only a .425 difference between the 4th place team and the 6th place team, and only a 6.6 point difference to the State Champion team, which is an extremely close match,” head coach Erin Fascendini said. 

Key gymnasts were sophomore Noelle Ciravolo, juniors Lily Roy and Sophia Bottalico, and senior captains Anna Mihalek, Lizzie Kot, and Gabby Butler. At States, the team scored an overall score of 128.2, placing sixth in Class M state championships out of the eight teams competing. 

“The team was overall positive and kept the good energy, although there is always room to improve, we still had a lot of fun and made the best of it.  The judges and energy of everyone on Saturday was very high and I think that everyone came into the gym ready to go for it,” Roy said.

At State Opens, rather than competing as a team, the top gymnasts in the state competed individually. Kot and Mihalek both qualified for events in State Opens. Kot competed in the floor event and vault event, while Mihalek competed in the floor, vault, and bars events. 

“After coming very close to qualifying for opens last season I went into the gym determined to qualify my senior year. For myself personally it has always been about consistency and confidence. I worked very hard throughout the off season and during the season to increase my confidence and get in as many reps as I could on each event to increase my consistency,” Kot said. 

Both Kot and Mihalek excelled at State Opens. Mihalek placed ninth in the floor event, qualifying for the New England Championships, which were cancelled by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) due to public health concerns regarding the COVID-19 virus. 

Along with competing in States and State Opens, team members were named Connecticut Central Conference (CCC) All Conference gymnasts. Sophomore Noelle Ciravolo was All CCC Vault and Beam, junior Sophia Bottalico was All CCC Floor, and senior Gabby Butler was All CCC Bars and Beam. Kot and Mihalek were named All CCC all around, qualifying in all four events.