By Rich Fisher, Sports Editor
There are a growing number of high school gymnastics programs in the state of New Jersey.
And the South Brunswick Vikings are establishing themselves as one of the best out of all of them.
Capping another remarkable season in remarkable fashion, the Vikings took fifth place in the team competition at Saturday’s NJSIAA State Gymnastics Championships, compiling 110.625 points.
In a competition that was razor close, Bishop Ahr won its fifth straight state title with a score of 112.50, barely edging Pascack Regional (112.125). Hillsborough took third with 111.850 and Hunterdon Central finished slightly ahead of SBHS with 110.675.
The finish was three spots higher than the 8th-place score (out of the 10 state qualifiers) South Brunswick amassed during the sectionals. But what was most impressive about the Vikings’ effort is that of all 10 finalists, they were the only team to get a higher score in states than sectionals. The other nine all had lower scores.
”The two GMC teams were the ones that made the biggest impact in the standings,” South coach Mindy Verderami said. “Bishop Ahr took first, and we put the fifth, sixth and seventh teams (from sectionals) behind us.”
It was once again a big day for the Big Three, as it’s getting tough to find new superlatives to describe the efforts of junior Marisa Liptak and sophomores Jess Macay and Shannon Martin.
Liptak finished ninth all-around with a 37.675 score, Macay tied for 15th (37.025) and a less-than 100 percent Martin was 40th (35.925).
Breaking it down in events, Liptak was fourth on floor (9.625), tied for 11th on beam (9.350), took 12th on bars (9.450) and tied for 31st on vault (9.250). , Macay tied for 16th on floor (9.375), 18th on vault (9.375), 22nd on beam (9.200) and 29th on bars (9.075). Martin tied for 27th on vault (9.300) and 32nd on floor (9.200), and took 41st on bars (8.850) and 50th on beam.
”Marisa stepped up her routines by increasing her vault to a 10.0 starting value by doing a front-front (handspring and tuck), where her former vault was out of a 9.8 (Pike Tsuke),” Verderami noted. “Also, instead of doing a double back tuck in her floor routine, she did a double back pike.”
The strategy for the floor routine took about five seconds to map out.
”She said to me ‘You know coach, there are way too many double backs being performed today, I am going to do my double pike instead,’” Verderami related. “I was like ‘Sounds great. Let’s do it.’”
Macay, who was actually a tenth of a point away from placing on vault, beam, floor and all-around, also decided not to go with the status quo, as she moved her vault value from a 9.4 to a 9.8 with a Yurchanko Pike vault.
”She used to not flip her vault,” Verderami said. “But she knew what was on the line for us and she wanted to do it. Keep in mind, she has never competed that vault before, she actually just learned how to do it only two months ago at her club. So, all in all, this was her first meet ever, including club, that she competed the new vault. And she got our highest vault score. It was so exciting.”
Not only for the competitor and the coach, but for the South Brunswick faithful who made the trip to Hunterdon Central High School.
”Our fans in the stands were all standing up, cheering, clapping for her,” Verderami said. “It was great to see and I was so happy for her. She deserved the standing ovation. She really stepped it up for the team this year. I am so proud of her. We needed her and she knew it, and wasn’t selfish about it one bit.”
Talk about taking one for the team. Martin, who battled injury all year, competed in so much pain that her doctor prescribed four to six weeks off to rest her shoulder after the meet.
”They are concerned her injury might be worse than originally thought and she might be getting another MRI in a month if it isn’t better,” Verderami said. “But she knew that the team needed her, and did the best she could despite being seriously hurt.
”Shannon was just amazing. She only slightly watered down her routines to try and keep her shoulder from getting worse. But she was clean and risked what strength she had left for the team and performed so well. She deserves a lot of credit for the success of this team during the second half of the season.”
Also competing at the states were Rebekah Clavin, Amanda Klein and Jenna Mayfield. Clavin got an 8.3 on vault and Klein had an 8.225 “which is amazing for a non-club gymnast to do at states, because it’s judged so much harder,” Verderami said.
”She did a great job, so it was well deserved,” the coach continued. “I was proud of Amanda as she stepped in for us literally minutes before warm-ups started. She was a team player that day and that was wonderful to see. Jenna and Rebekah also performed well on beam and bars.”
All in all, a great day for the Vikings, even though they slipped from fourth place last year to fifth this year. The score, however, was higher.
”All three girls nailed their beam routines once again, being one of the few teams that had absolutely no falls in any event,” Verderami said. “What a huge turn-around from last weekend. The practices and the rest they got this week really paid off, and we are hoping to carry what we did this week into next season.
”We were successful in completing all three of our goals going into the meet — moving up from 8th (in sectionals) and trying to place in the top five; having fun, and putting it all out there. What I mean by that is, performing skills they have never performed at a high school meet before, and putting it all on the line. If there is any meet to do it at, it is states and they did just that.”
And because they did, South Brunswick High has cemented itself as one of the top gymnastics programs in the state.
Congratulations go out to head coach Erika Casey, who took the season off on maternity leave. Almost as if on cue, Erika gave berth to 7-pound, 8-ounce Dane Casey on Sunday morning, one day after the gymnastics season officially ended.
