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caption, page 2:
Right: Woodstock Academy senior Jenna Davidson, competing on the balance beam, finished as the CIAC State Open champion. The Woodstock Academy gymnastics team with its runner-up plaque following the CIAC State Open gymnastics championship March 7. Photos by Marc Allard.
Davidson 1st;
Centaurs 2nd
at State Open
Woodstock Academy senior Jenna Davidson did something very unusual March 7.
For the first time this season, the gymnast fell during her balance beam competition.
Instead of letting that one mistake determine the outcome, Davidson turned a negative into a positive.
“I knew I had to make up a lot of points on the floor,” Davidson said. “I just had fun. I showed off everything and it worked out.”
Davidson scored a 9.55 on the floor, her final routine of the day in the State Open gymnastics championship, and walked away as the State Open champion with a 36.575 total.
The Centaurs, as a whole, were not as successful.
They had won seven of the last eight State Open titles but fell short, finishing second to Southington, 136.625 – 136.1.
“We didn’t have our best meet (Saturday),” said Woodstock Academy coach Kasey Tocchio. “We had some little things. We were coming off of our best meet last week and we knew we had to repeat that because there are some strong teams here.”
Davidson scored a 9.15 in the vault and a 9.225 in the bars before heading to the beam.
She slipped early in the routine. “I consider beam to be my event and I was pretty upset after that. I hadn’t come off all year. Going into floor, it was more about the team. I had to pull it together, do it for them and do it for myself,” Davidson said.
She finished with an 8.65 score on the beam.
But Davidson had a little something in her back pocket going into her final rotation of the day.
She had raised the difficulty of her floor routine in the week between the State Championship meet and the State Open. “She nailed all of her landings. She finished her bonus which we really worked on in the gym for her to get that start value. She came out of a 10.0, whereas at States, she came out of a 9.8. She got herself back in the mindset, though, of we’re going to finish for this team,” Tocchio said.
Davidson said, “I had to dig down deep. I was upset, but it didn’t matter anymore. I had another event. I had to put everything else aside and just do what I had to do,” Davidson said.
She did. And the relief afterwards was palpable.
“I’m really happy. I wasn’t sure I was going to win this meet. I’m just relieved. I’m upset that we didn’t win the All-Around (team competition) but we did the best we could,” Davidson said. “It’s OK to finish second once in a while. We won States. We had a great meet. Coming to a new gym, it can set things a little off. We had some mistakes, one more mistake than we needed.”
Tocchio knew it was going to be an uphill climb for her team throughout.
There is no scoreboard in gymnastics and coaches rarely take the time to go over to the computer screen that has the cumulative scores displayed on it.
But they can feel when things are going right and when things could be better.
Tocchio was feeling the latter much of the day.
“After vault (the Centaurs first rotation), we didn’t have the vault scores that we put up at States. So starting there, it was let’s do the best that we can do,” Tocchio said.
The Centaurs finished with a 34.450 in the vault which is where Southington gained a lot of ground as it finished with a 35.2.
The Centaurs followed that up with a 33.350 on bars and a 32.725 on beam.
“Besides Jenna’s unfortunate fall, they all stayed on beam, which was awesome,” Tocchio said.
Emily Arters finished with an 8.150 total on beam, Lindsey Gillies put up an 8.125 and Hannah Bell scored a 7.8.
The Centaurs moved on to floor where they posted a 35.575 total, the best score for any team in any of the rotations.
“Floor showed the team that they are,” Tocchio said.
Both Gillies and Arters scored an 8.8 and Elise Boisvert added an 8.425. Gillies finished 13th in the All-Around with a 34.050. Arters finished 18th overall with a 33.65 total.
It will be even tougher next year when the Centaurs lose Davidson, Arters and Boisvert.
“We’re not really gaining any freshmen so next year will be interesting. We have to keep fighting through it and next year, we will probably be saying that so-and-so stepped up,” Tocchio said.
Tocchio is hopeful that Taylor Markley, a freshman this year who was sidelined by a back injury, will be able to return.
This season, however, is not over.
The Centaurs, with their second place State Open finish, qualified for the New England championship March 14.
“I think there are some really strong Massachusetts teams. It’s really hard to tell when you don’t see what is going on. We’re just planning on having fun at New England’s and finish strong as a team,” Tocchio said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
..