Late success on bars clinches state berth
By Rich Fisher, Sports Editor
We often think of gymnastics as a study in grace and elegance, but sometimes it just comes down to old fashioned grit and determination.
The South Brunswick High squad showed just how gutsy it is Saturday, bouncing back from sub-par efforts to come up with a big one in their final rotation to pull out a third-place finish in the Central Jersey 2 sectional meet at Hillsborough High.
Garnering a team score of 110.475, the Vikings had the eighth best sectional score in New Jersey, which qualifies the entire team for the NJSIAA State Championship Meet this Saturday at Hunterdon Central. It’s the second straight year SBHS has qualified as a team.
It is also the second straight year that the ‘Big Three’ of junior Marissa Liptak and sophomores Jess Macay and Shannon Martin have qualified for all-around as individuals.
”This was a great effort,” coach Mindy Verderami said. “We have one of the toughest sectionals in the state, if not the toughest. Of the 10 teams that qualified for states, four of them came from our sectional.”
The Vikings finished behind Hillsborough and Hunterdon Central and ahead of Montgomery, which also qualified. Hillsborough just happened to have the highest scoring meet in New Jersey history with a 114.375, and Hunterdon Central was a dazzling 113.15.
While the five sectional winners advanced, so too did the next five best scores. Three of those were in CJ2. The Vikings had to pull it out at the end, after suffering through a rare off-day on floor, and then a tough rotation on vault.
”We started with beam and floor, which are our two best events,” Verderami said. “I was looking at the glass half-full scenario, in that the judges usually give the higher scores in the later events, and that’s when we had our two weakest.
”We weren’t as good on floor as usual, and we did not perform vault as well as we normally do. We knew we still had bars. With bars being one of our weaker of the four events, we had to be on.”
And through the aforementioned grit and determination, they came through.
”The girls got re-focused and re-energized, and they knew what they had to do,” Verderami said. “As soon as they got on bars, they turned it on. They nailed their dismounts, they nailed every part of their routine.
”All three of the all-around girls got better than 9.0 on bars. That’s what got us our third place overall, was their determination not to settle what happened floor and vault.”
When it was over, Liptak took sixth in all around (37.65), Martin was 14th (36.65) and Macay was 18th (36.175). All-around scores over 36.0 qualified gymnasts for states.
”All three of them stuck their beam routines and looked fabulous,” Verderami said. “They had a tough warm-up, but they pulled it through. Everyone in the stands was watching what they were doing, and they had that intensity. You could see it in their face.”
In the individual events, Martin was fifth on floor (9.525), Macay was ninth on bars (9.225) and 10th on beam (9.475) and Liptak was ninth on vault (9.375), sixth on bars (9.375) and seventh on beam (9.55). Martin finished with a 9.0 on all four of her events “which was a great accomplishment for her,” according to Verderami.
Aside from the three all-arounders, Verderami expects to take Jenna Mayfield to states on vault, beam and floor, and Rebekah Clavin on bars.
Because it will be the same rotation for South Brunswick this Saturday as it was in sectionals, the coaches have tried simulating the meet during practices.
”I’m optimistic,” Verderami said. “The girls know what they have to do and they are more prepared. They kind of got everything out of their system this past weekend as far as nerves go.
”Because the girls only get 4½ minutes of warm-ups, we’re going to simulate that at practice to try and get them used to it. If we can continue that frame of mind, hopefully it gets them focused, they keep that focus and we can move up a couple of spots.
”I think Jess and Marissa have a chance to do well on beam. Marissa has a chance on floor and they all have a chance on apparatus to place high. If they’ve slept well, ate well and drank lots of water, they should be ready to go. They have the talent and ability.”
Not to mention the grit and determination.

