The Woodstock Academy Centaurs gymnastics team learned a valuable lesson last season; every score counts.
The Centaurs had been a little spoiled before last season.
Having gymnasts like Paige Stuyniski and Grace Logan, both of whom could post nice scores and carry the team, made life pretty good.
But both graduated two years ago and the Centaurs felt their absence in the State Open championship last season when they lost to Greenwich.
“We’ve always been able to rely on the big, big scores and now, everybody has to pull their own weight. That was a big difference with last year’s team. They ended up figuring it out and did a really good job with it. Going into this year, they all know that they all play a really important role on the team,” said Woodstock Academy coach Kasey Tocchio.
The Centaurs return a strong team, but all possess almost equal ability.
“It’s a really good dynamic for the team, because we don’t have just six good gymnasts, it’s more than that. We have 11 or 12 gymnasts fighting for spots and that will make us better, too,” Tocchio said.
Everybody is back from a squad that won the Eastern Connecticut Conference and Class S state titles.
That includes senior Lydia Taft who appeared in only one meet last season, the New England championship.
Defending ECC champ, Ali Crescimanno, who edged out teammate Maddie Grube by a 10th of a point, 35.6-35.5 in the championship meet, is also back.
Tocchio likes what she has seen from the senior.
“She looks awesome right now,” Tocchio said. “She had a great summer of training. She has really dialed in and knows what she wants.”
That includes where she is going to school. Crescimanno will attend Winona State University in Minnesota.
Grube also returns as does fellow senior Abigail Vaida.
The Centaurs will enjoy having four seniors – this year.
“Next year will definitely be a tough year,” Tocchio said with a laugh.
The juniors on the team include Jenna Davidson and Emily Arters with Grace Gronski, who is battling some early season back discomfort, and Estella Douglas as the returning sophomores.
Carla Simal is a promising newcomer.
The international student is a sophomore from Spain who has gymnastics experience.
Freshmen on the team include Hannah Bell, Summer Ko-Szych and Lindsey Gillies.
Locally, the Centaurs have been the team to beat over the last decade.
Woodstock Academy will be seeking its 10th consecutive Eastern Connecticut Conference championship this season.
The ECC continues to struggle to maintain gymnastics programs with Stonington and Norwich Free Academy being the only solid programs outside of Woodstock Academy. But Tocchio is optimistic that Killingly can possibly become competitive again after it became a cooperative program with Putnam and Tourtellotte.
The Centaurs have not only been dominant in the area, but also in the state.
Woodstock Academy will be seeking its ninth straight state championship this season. The Centaurs have won the last six Class S state championships and two Class M titles prior to that.
“I think we’re the favorite again, but that is hard to say, because you never know what other teams out there look like,” Tocchio said.
Woodstock Academy defeated Mercy last season, but suffered its first disappointment in quite some time when its string of six consecutive State Open championships was ended by Greenwich.
The Centaurs finished sixth in New England last season.
“I feel the bigger goal for us will be trying to top our score (138.625) from last year and better our made routines over missed routines. You can’t control what other teams do, so those are our goals. Hopefully, that will make our number go up,” Tocchio said. 
Gymnastics schedule:
Dec. 21: NFA, Killingly co-op (at Deary’s Gymnastics),  6:30
Jan. 3:  At Stonington      4:30 p.m.
 Jan. 7:   East Lyme (at Deary’s Gymnastics)   6 p.m.
Jan. 16:   at NFA (at Thames Valley Gymnastics),    2:30 p.m.
Jan. 28:   Stonington (at Deary’s Gymnastics)   6 p.m.
Feb. 4:   at East Lyme (at ABC Gymnastics)       6 p.m.
Feb. 11:  Killingly/Putnam/Tourtellotte (at Deary’s) 6 p.m.
Feb. 13:   ECC Championship (at Deary’s Gymnastics), 6 p.m.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

.