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A Favorite
Woodstock Academy senior Ali Crescimanno will be one of the favorites to win the Eastern Connecticut Conference individual gymnastics championship. Courtesy photo.





Centaurs seek 10th straight ECC Gymnastics championship. It’s a big number.
Then again, almost everything is a big number for the Woodstock Academy gymnastics team.
The Centaurs will be looking for their 10th consecutive first-place finish in the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship meet on Wednesday.
“It’s definitely special and it’s really exciting for the four seniors on the team,” Woodstock Academy coach Kasey Tocchio.
Pressure? Not so much.
“I don’t think so,” Tocchio said. “I think because we have been so consistent that we just try to keep beating ourselves. I don’t think we are feeling any pressure, just more of the excitement and how much better can we do (individually).”
If there is something Tocchio would like to see, it’s the Centaurs score well on the one apparatus that has been their nemesis – the balance beam.
“For our score to improve, we have to do well on beam. If we hit on beam, we can score well. We just haven’t been consistent on it. If we all hit that together, as a team, we will see a nice score,” Tocchio said.
The Centaurs also have the advantage that the championship meet is held on their home floor- Deary’s Gymnastics in Danielson
“The girls are comfortable there and it will be loud, a great atmosphere,” Tocchio said.
The closest anyone has come to the Centaurs was Stonington in the first meeting of the season between the two.
The Centaurs won that battle by a little less than seven points, 135.85 - 128.95, at Stonington High School.
The Centaurs warmed up for the Eastern Connecticut Conference gymnastics championship last Monday with a 142.9 – 119.2 win over Old Lyme.
It produced more big numbers for the Centaurs.
It was their 83rd consecutive win in a regular season meet.
Woodstock Academy has not lost since Jan. 27, 2010, when Stonington handed them a loss and tied the Centaurs for the ECC regular season title.
The Centaurs have already clinched this year’s regular season crown. They still had one more regular season meet against the Killingly/Putnam/Tourtellotte cooperative on Monday (the meet ended too late for this edition).
The nice thing about the win over Old Lyme was that the 142.9 total was reached without senior Lydia Taft in the lineup.
Taft has been under the weather and Tocchio decided that rest was more important than another competition.
“We were really excited about that,” Tocchio said. “It was a really good meet. One of the best meets we’ve had (at ABC Gymnastics in Niantic). A lot of the girls stepped up and posted some of their highest All-Around or (apparatus) scores.”
Senior Ali Crescimanno was best in the All-Around with a 36.55.
“She had a great meet,” Tocchio said.
Crescimanno was first in the bars (9.55), floor (9.3) and vault (9.1).
Jenna Davidson, who finished second in the All-Around with a 35.65, was tops in the beam with a 9.3.
Maddie Grube posted a 9.2 on the beam and was third-best in the All-Around with a 35.15.
“Those scores help,” Tocchio said. “We can send those scores in so our rankings change. You have to drop the high so we have to get some other good scores in there.”
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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