BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer
A state rule change on the vault and a move to a different division in the Shore Conference is just part of what will be a much different season for Brick Township’s gymnastics team.
Lindsay Poplaski, a junior, is defending her state championship in the balance beam, but the Green Dragons will compete this season without Jenna Philpott, a leading gymnast on the team, as they opened their season yesterday at home against Jackson.
“She’s not out for the team,” said coach Barbara Floyd, who only cited “team conflicts” as a reason for Philpott’s absence. “It’s a big hole to fill. We have to move everybody up a spot. We’re not quite where we should be. We might not be ready yet.”
And being without a second state-caliber competitor with Poplaski could make it difficult for Brick Township to continue its winning ways as it moves from the A South, where it finished as a trichampion with Toms River North and Jackson, to the B South Division against the likes of Shore Conference champion Red Bank Catholic as well as Holmdel, Lacey and Manasquan.
Last year’s team had its third-straight double-figure win season with a school record 12-1 mark, marred only by a loss to Toms River North. The team also scored a school record 105.6 points in a late season meet with Jackson that sealed the trichampionship.
“As a team we’re looking good, not as good as last year because we lost a very important gymnast whose spot will be tough to fill,” said Poplaski.
Danielle Reilly, a senior, has the experience to move up to that spot but Floyd said the team “is waiting for her to come on.” Sophomores Jess Betar, Chelsea Greenstein and Sam Gerb, who Floyd said “has made a lot of improvement,” will look to pick up the slack.
What also slows the team at the outset is senior Melanie Kinney’s ankle injury that will keep her from competing in the floor exercise, although she can still participate in vault, beam and bars.
“I’m not sure who will score for us,” said Floyd, who feels Betar can pick up points in floor exercise and Greenstein can do well in bars. “I think we’ll be down five points [in the team score] from last year.”
Starting her 13th season, Floyd said she knows she can count on Poplaski, who won the all-around in the Shore Conference championships a year ago after finishing in eighth place as a freshman, and became the first state champion in an event since Kim O’Keefe won the all-around in 1989. With a 9.55 score, Poplaski prevailed in the beam after finishing seventh as a freshman. A slip in the floor exercise kept her from advancing among the 12 state finalists in the all-around.
Poplaski’s great performance on the beam erased bitter memories of the NJSIAA South Jersey section championships last fall when she fell off the beam for only the fourth time all season and finished sixth with an 8.6 score. As a result, she narrowly qualified for the all-around in the state finals with a fifth-place finish, the final spot.
“Things are going pretty well,” said Poplaski of the beam, where she relies on a hand spring layout and a back tuck in her routine.
“I’m going to keep everything the same, just trying to be consistent.”
“She came back for this season very ready to go,” said Floyd of Poplaski.
“She increased the difficulty of the mount and should be in good shape to defend her title.”
But Poplaski can add to her repertoire in the vault after the NJSIAA allowed for the yurchenko, a roundoff entry.
“I like it, she said. “I do well with it. My scores should be higher.”
Poplaski also said she is “adding more skills” to her floor exercise and she looks solid in the bars where she finished 11th in the state last year.
But Floyd said her gymnasts “are showing progress. We have the potential for more wins than losses.”
If the other young gymnasts can emerge, that can prove to be an understatement.