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HILLSBOROUGH: Girls’ gymnastics ‘family’ wraps up quite a year 

By Justin Feil, Packet Media Group
Sarah Pallay and the Hillsborough High School gymnastics team never wanted to see the season end.
The senior capped her career by helping the Raiders finish fourth in the state team championships last Thursday and then finishing sixth in the all-around at the state individual championships Saturday.
“It’s going to be a change,” said Pallay, who tied Ariyana Agarwala of Bishop Ahr with an all-around score of 37.725. “It’s going to be different. I’m going to miss it a lot. It’s like another family.”
It was a memorable finale for Pallay and the Raiders, who were dominant all season, even through a sectional championship. Hillsborough moved on to the state championships after scoring 113.475 to win the Central Jersey, Section 2 meet at home.
“We had a phenomenal sectional,” said Hillsborough head coach Beth Murrin. “The first two events — we started on vault and bars — we were lights out. We had personal bests all over the place. We had 16 people compete and I think 10 people set personal bests. We set a new school record on bars as a team — 28.65.
“Then we finished strong on the last two events. It was a really fun team day to be a part of. Everyone enjoyed it. We had a lot of different people, especially on beam, compete. Renee Kinzler and Stella Pashaian had bests and they scored for our team.”
Natalie Onderko, Pallay and Kira Solt set the bars team record. Onderko won the all-around with 38.25 points, with Pallay coming in second. Onderko won the bar, beam and vault. Pallay won the floor. They were among the school-record seven Raider gymnasts to qualify for individual states. Onderko and Pallay qualified all-around, Solt and Kelly Brady qualified for vault, Solt and Kristen Maher in bars, Pashaian and Kinzler on beam and Solt on floor.
“I feel like it adds more fun to the environment,” Pallay said. “I’m so proud of my team. Girls from every grade were there. It’s cool to think about. It creates a good environment to compete in.”
The 11 gymnasts who established bests at sectionals were: Onderko (beam 9.775 and all-around 38.25), Pallay (vault 9.6 and bars 9.55), Solt (bars 9.4), Lauren Tran (all-around 33.6), Brady (bars 8.775, all-around 34.3), Ashley Choi (beam 8.65), Grace Dinunzi (bars 8.3, beam 8.975 and all-around 35.125), Pashaian (vault 9.15, bars 8.375, beam 9.3 and all-around 35.675), Kinzler (vault 9.1, bars 8.525, beam 9.3 and all-around 35.325), Cindy Liu (bars 8.975 and all-around 35.55) and Brielle Seidel (vault 9.0, beam 9.275 and all-around 35.825). Their scores enabled seven of them to compete one final time Saturday in the state individuals meet.
“Everyone had a positive attitude,” Murrin said. “We tried to stay relaxed and go out and do our best gymnastics. We did a pretty good job of that. We had seven kids there. On floor, everybody hit and did a great job. Vault, the same thing. Bar, the same thing. Beam, two people stuck. It was a good experience, especially for the younger kids — Kelly Brady on vault, Stella Pashaian on beam and Kinzler on beam. It was a great first experience to be in that individual meet.
“Kira has been to it before. And for the seniors, it was that celebratory mode where it’s their final meet of the season and of their careers. They tried to be in the moment and enjoy it.”
In the state championships, Onderko was third on bars with a 9.625. Pallay tied for fifth on floor with a 9.575 score and tied for seventh on beam with a 9.45.
“I always feel like that’s the more relaxing meet,” Pallay said. “If you screw up, it’s only on you. I felt good about Saturday. It’s a nice closer to the end of my high school gymnastics career. I was happy with that.”
The Raiders would have loved to finish higher in the state championships, but fourth was a solid ending to a terrific year. They scored 110.725 to finish behind only Red Bank Catholic, St. John Vianney and Colts Neck.
“Team states, we went out there and didn’t have a perfect day,” Pallay said. “It doesn’t matter at the end of the day. You look at the season and it can’t take away from how well the season went. I wish it went a little different, but you can’t change it. That’s gymnastics for you.”
Pallay had such a good time with the team this year that she never wanted to think about the end. The last two years have seen the Raiders raise their already high standards to put themselves in the running for a state crown.
“All four of my years, we’ve always had a lot of fun and a lot of team bonds,” Pallay said. “It definitely has been different in the past two years. We had a lot of momentum and energy all the time, no matter what the meet was, what day of the week it was, if it was practice. I think the season does impact that because everyone does have a more positive and determined outlook in the gym.”
The Raiders needed to be at their absolute best in the state competitions. Judging is tighter and the competition doesn’t get any better.
“At states, you’re up against the best,” Pallay said. “In your little conference, it’s not as competitive and that goes for everyone. When you have the best gymnasts in the state, you have to compare your skills to everyone in the gym. They’re not going to give the 9.7s to anyone.”
The Raiders had worked all season toward being their best at the end. They showed their skills off at sectionals and states to cap quite a year.
“There wasn’t a day I didn’t want to go down to the gym,” Murrin said. “There wasn’t a day that someone didn’t improve in something. They were pushing each other.”
She credits the senior trio of Pallay, Onderko and Maher with leading the way and setting the standard. They have set the stage for next year’s team.
“It’s exciting for all these kids,” Murrin said. “We had such leadership from Sarah and Natalie, and Kira improved so much she knows she returns as a competition leader, it’s exciting to know those new roles are coming. And younger kids got experience so they’re more ready. It sets the tone and makes everyone want to work hard to maintain that.”
Pallay will be heading off to college. She will be following the team from afar.
“I feel good about it,” she said. “I feel like we have a lot of talent on the team. From what I hear, we have some good girls moving up. I practice with some of them at my club team. I think they’ll do a pretty good job of keeping everything going.”
It will be tough to replace all the points accrued by the seniors this year, and even Pallay wishes she had more time to compete for Hillsborough.
“I’m pretty upset,” Pallay said. “It’s been a great four years.”
Murrin enjoyed watching them grow over their four years and develop into one of the top teams in the state. She isn’t thinking too far ahead. She prefers to think about how enjoyable this season was. It’s something that will stay with Pallay as well.
“Forever, we’re going to have this bond, even if it’s 10 years later,” Pallay said. “I see that with my sister. She’s still close with everyone she was on the gymnastics team with.” 