BY KATELYN BUCHALTER
Editor in Chief
Despite the gymnastics team’s disappointing 2-6 record this season, the girls marked several outstanding achievements, and six athletes still have the opportunity to show their strength and skills at the NJSIAA State Sectionals this weekend.
After the graduation of several seniors from previous years, the team faced the challenge of reworking and perfecting the team. “We have done more team bonding this year than we have in years,” said junior Caela Jones. “We have done team bonding, including making our team banner, candy salads, as well as games of ‘stick it’.”
The girls have worked extremely hard and shown dedication towards progressing in later competitions. “We have two-hour practices every day where we work on perfecting our competition routines for each event,” voiced junior Jordan Feldman. “We also reflect on our scores from past meets and work on specific skills to help boost those scores.”
The girls beat both Piscataway and South Brunswick, and six girls qualified for Sectionals, including Jenna Castle, Taylor Schin, Caela Jones, Jordan Feldman, Alana Dunnah, and Stella Melnikov. “Qualifying for sectionals was such a surreal feeling; my goal for the season was to qualify on two events since I have never done that before and making one of those events the Floor exercise,” said senior Jenna Castle. “Not only was floor the first event I qualified for, but I also qualified for three events, surpassing my goals for the season.”
With so many sectional qualifiers, the girls can’t help but bask in their favorite moments of the season. “Our performance at the Cranford Cougar Invitational was definitely a highlight for the team,” voiced Feldman. “We had multiple girls earn their season-high scores on each event, and we earned our highest team score of the season so far.”
On top of multiple individual recognitions, including Castle’s 2024 GMC All-Conference Gymnast award, the girls earned the title of GMC Sportsmanship Team of the Year. “The team was super excited to be recognized as GMC Sportsmanship Team of the Year. We spend every meet not only cheering on each other but also giving our opponents the same support,” expressed Feldman. “This award represents OB gymnastics in a great way, and we are so proud that we earned this title.”
The girls who qualified will compete in Sectionals on November 2 at Hillsborough High School.
Posted on 10/29/24
Photos by Laila Mohamed-Ali
Knight Life 