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Winners
The Woodstock Academy gymnastics team displays another ECC championship plaque and banner after it won the ECC championship for an 11th consecutive time.
Woodstock Academy senior Jenna Davidson won her second consecutive ECC individual championship with a 36.75 performance in the All-Around competition. Photos by Marc Allard.
Centaurs
capture 11th
straight ECC
championship
It’s not getting any easier. But that may be a good thing for the Woodstock Academy gymnastics team.
“The pressure is there especially since the ECC teams are growing and doing so well. The pressure is a little more but it makes everyone work a little harder,” said Woodstock Academy coach Kasey Tocchio.
As a result, the Centaurs just escaped from Deary’s Gymnastics in Danielson early last week with their 11th consecutive ECC title with a 139.4-138.5 win over upset-minded Stonington.
“Thank God,” said Woodstock Academy senior Jenna Davidson. “We were so nervous because it would be so bad (if they hadn’t kept the streak going). We’re happy.”
Davidson repeated as the ECC individual champion with a 36.75 score in the All-Around competition.
“I think last year, I kind of got lucky. Our two seniors I think fell on something so I won. This year, I hope I was more deserving, maybe. I think I had a decent meet,” Davidson said.
Although the Centaurs didn’t know the exact score going into the final event, they were pretty sure what they were up against.
Going into the floor exercise, senior Emily Arters told her classmate, Davidson, “You know that it’s down to floor, right?” Davidson responded that she didn’t.
“But floor was a good event to finish on. We usually have fun with it and it usually turns out well,” Davidson said.
Davidson didn’t know just how crucial the floor was for the Centaurs. They trailed the Bears going into the final event by three-tenths of a point.
“That’s scary,” Davidson said with a laugh.
Stonington coach Leslie Gomes knew her team had to do something that was going to be difficult, score well in its final event, vault.
“I knew we did really well on beam and floor, but I didn’t know what Woodstock was doing. It was kind of hard to know and vault is not our strongest event. We’re struggling a little with it. Hanna and Lydia (Laskey) are doing great but it’s just not our strongest event,” Gomes said.
Lindsey Gillies scored an 8.55, Elise Boisvert and Arters both finished with an 8.75 and Davidson posted a 9.15 to give the Centaurs a 35.2 total for the floor.
It was enough to best Stonington which finished with a 33.95 in the vault.
The Centaurs came into the meet pumped — maybe a little too much.
“Kasey talked to us at the end of the meet and said we had a lot of adrenaline (going into the ECC championship). I think it shows in little mistakes here and there because we were so amped up. Everything just has to be normal, just like practice, normal,” Davidson said.
The Centaurs started on the vault which only served to ratchet up the excitement level since Gillies nailed it.
The sophomore finished with a 9.2 to finish first in the event.
“I put that upgrade in on Saturday. I didn’t think I was going to do it, but (Kasey) told me to do it,” Gillies said.
It impressed Davidson.
“That vault is new. She keeps getting better vaults and I don’t know how she does that vault because none of us can do it. She had a solid meet. Everything looked great. We’re all happy for her,” Davidson said.
Gillies went on to finish with a 34.95 total, good enough for fourth in the All-Around competition.
Davidson followed with a 9.15 performance on the bars, best in the competition, and also was best on the beam where she finished with a sparkling 9.45.
The Bears made it close with a 36.3 total on the floor and a 35.2 on the beam. Their 138.5 total was a school record.
“It’s awesome to see Stonington set a school record. It’s so nice that we have a great connection with everyone and we’re still cheering everyone on. We want everyone to do their best and see where the results lie from there,” Tocchio said.
The Centaurs have another streak to protect. Woodstock Academy has won nine straight state championships, the last seven in Class S.
Tocchio said she thinks this team, even without freshman Taylor Markley who is out with a back injury, is capable of keeping that streak alive as well.
“I think we are,” Tocchio said. “I think we need to remain healthy. It’s just different. Every year is different. This is a small team so every single person has to do their job. They just have to stay in the zone. Every year gets tougher.”
The state championships are Feb. 29. The class designations have not been announced.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
..