The gymnastics team had a great start this fall on Monday, September 12 with our season opener at home against rival team Wayne Hills! The team is led by senior captains Joey Geisel, Ellie Vreeland, Hailey Golding, and Jasmine Nguyen. The girls have been practicing since August to get ready for the 2022 season. In an interview with senior captain, Hailey Golding, she said, “The gymnastics team is such a tight family. We are so accepting and I love that about us.”

 The meet started on vault, which is when the athlete runs towards the table and attempts to flip off of it. Junior Tiffany Santa Lucia placed first on vault with the highest overall score of 8.6. What a great beginning for Tiffany’s season. Freshman Lucy Kelly placed third on beam with a 7.75, which is an excellent beginning to a high school career. Captain Ellie Vreeland placed first on floor with a solid 9. She is always a strong performer and an amazing leader.  Unfortunately the team would drop their first meet to Wayne Hills by a score of 99.75 to 91.25 even though the girls had a very strong performance.

September 14 the girls went to Wayne Valley where sophomore Shannon Dalcais placed third with her debut floor routine scoring a 7.75. Sophomore Heather Lahr placed 3rd on bars with a 6.85. The uneven bars is only a girls gymnastics event and the gymnasts transition from bar to bar. It is only Heather’s first year on the team and the team is excited to see what her future holds. Junior Tiffany Santa Lucia placed third on vault with a score of 7.9. Way to go, Tiff, for placing two meets in a row! West Milford would not pull out the victory against Wayne Valley, after the meet Senior Captain Jasmine Nguyen said, “It’s so nice to watch the girls work really hard and support each other through everything.” The gymnastics team is so excited to have 12 new girls join and is looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season turns out. Go Highlanders!

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