By Wayne Witkowski
Monica Servidio achieved glory for her Howell High School team as state champion in the uneven bars during the varsity season, but it had eluded her in her first five years on Level 10 for Action Gymnastics in Freehold.
That is until the 18-year-old recently became one of 300 competitors nationwide to advance to the USA Gymnastics national championships May 4-8 in Indianapolis. Competing for the sixth straight year in the region competition in Maryland, Servidio earned her spot in the nationals when she finished seventh all-around, highlighted by a second-place finish in the vault.
“I’m really happy. It’s really hard to make it,” Servidio said of the nationals, which takes the top seven in each region. “I just went out and did my best.”
During the high school seasons, Servidio also finished first in the all-around in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association team championships to help Howell to a seventh-place finish in the team standings. In the individual state championships, she scored 9.65 and was second all-around.
But her 9.675 score in the vault at the USA Gymnastics regionals even surprised her.
“Vault is one of my least favorite events,” Servidio said. “I never thought vault would be my best event in regions.”
That’s particularly because she recently changed her move from a full- to a half-Yurchenko.
“It looks cleaner than a full move for me,” Servidio said.
It ends with a blind landing in which Servidio faces away from the vault instead of looking at it.
She also scored 9.35 in the floor exercise toward a 37.2 total for her seventh-place finish in the all-around in the region.
She’ll be joined in the nationals by Action Gymnastics teammate Ariana Aparwala, a sophomore at Bishop George Ahr High School.
Another Action Gymnastics member from Howell, Olivia Vega, won the uneven bars and finished third all-around in Level 8 of the USA Gymnastics region competition in Pittsburgh earlier this month. Level 8 concludes in region competition.
“I feel I’m ready for nationals,” Servidio said. “If I keep doing what I’m doing, I’ll be fine. It’s a good experience for me.”
After this, she’ll prepare for a college career at Temple University, where she committed last November. Temple women’s gymnastics head coach Umme Salim-Beasley was selected as a Co-Northeast Regional Coach of the Year this past season.
The 2017 team holds the top 10 program scores of all time, sharing only one of those scores with a previous Temple squad. It finished the 2017 season ranked first in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) with the highest regional qualifying team average score in school history at 193.675. Overall, the Owls tallied 36 total individual scores of 9.8 or above this past season, as team members collected six ECAC weekly awards.
“I’m really excited. I feel I’ll make an impact,” Servidio said. “We have seven freshmen coming to Temple, including me, and we’re all excited. Hopefully, we’ll set some records.”
Servidio said she is concentrating the most on improving hitting her handstands.