MHS junior sets records on way
By: Bob Nuse
Erin Simon knew right away she had landed a very good vault.
She just had to wait a little while to make sure it was a winning vault.
"Everything went right on that vault," said the Montgomery junior, whose score of 9.775 was good enough for first place at the Central Jersey 2 Sectional championship. "I was very nervous going into it. But once I pushed off the vault I could tell it was a good one. I could tell by the spring and how high I got that it was a good one.
"There were two more rotations after I went, so I had to wait to see if I had won. My dad was looking at all the scores and my mom said he was talking to people trying to get the scores. I think he might have been more nervous than I was."
Simon, who qualified for this Saturday’s state meet in the all-around for the second straight year, also set a school record in the event, eclipsing the mark set by Liz Edwards.
"On her second vault she really landed it and you knew it was a good vault from the smile on her face," Montgomery coach Johanna Snedeker said. "She started slowly this year with the vault, but she has been doing very well and she’s been very committed all year. She has really been focused."
Montgomery wound up finishing sixth as a team with a score of 106.325. To show just how far the program has come in recent years, the Cougars actually came away from Saturday’s competition thinking they could have done even better.
"The girls came through in the end," Snedeker said. "We had an excellent finish. But as a coach, you always wonder what could have happened and this year I just felt like we never peaked as a team. And then on Saturday we got off to a rough start because three of the six girls on the beam fell, including Erin and she never falls.
"Last year was a similar finish. Our score was a nice score, but you wonder what would have happened if we hadn’t had the falls on beam. But you can say that every meet, what if?"
In addition to her first-place finish on vault, Simon was also tied for 11th on floor with a 9.4 score and 12th all around with a score of 36.4.
"I think it will be better this year at states because of my experience from last year," said Simon, who qualified on beam as a freshman. "I just want to go there and do my best."
So far, her best has been as good as anyone has ever done from Montgomery.
"Erin has smashed all the school records," Snedeker said. "The only one she doesn’t have yet is career points, which her sister Kelly has, and she’ll break that next year."
As a team, the Cougars have continued to get better and better each year. This year they finished 9-4 during the regular season and sixth at sectionals. Those finishes would have been unheard of until the last couple years. But the current crop of gymnasts has raised the level of the program.
"We talked about that after the meet," Snedeker said. "The expectations have changed for the program. The two freshmen who came in this year, you’ll hear a lot about them the next few years because they are fierce competitors. And next year could be our biggest team because we have six freshmen who will probably be coming in and we only lose three competing seniors.
"We have a nice feeder system in place with the rec program and the middle school. And a lot of the kids are also in clubs. Paramount has produced some outstanding gymnasts for us. When you have winning gymnasts, that’s part of the reason the younger kids get excited about it. They see what these girls are doing and they look up to them and want to emulate what they’re doing."
In addition to Simon, Montgomery had some other gymnasts perform well, although no one else finished in the top 12.
"Emily Wang performed well and so did Bridget O’Brien, who had an outstanding meet," Snedeker said. "It was a situation with Bridget where the tough get going. She really came through when we needed her to."

