Branford High School student Brooke Kustra had an excellent sophomore season while representing Hornets’ gymnastics during the recent winter campaign.

Kustra posted season-high totals of 8.45 on vault, 7.7 on bars, 8.2 for the beam, 8.4 on floor, and 32.4 for the all-around this year. At the Southern Connecticut Conference Championship, Kustra took eighth place in the all-around with her score of 32.4 to earn a spot on the All-SCC Team for the second consecutive season. Kustra finished tied for fourth on the vault (8.4), fifth for the beam (7.9), and seventh on bars (7.9) at the SCC Championship, where she also totaled a score of 8.4 on the floor exercise.

For the last two seasons, Kustra has represented Branford gymnastics while training alongside and competing at meets with the gymnastics team at Daniel Hand High School in Madison.

“Brooke is a tenacious competitor and, both years, we’ve been pleasantly pleased with her stellar performance at the championships. She works hard, but she also peaks at the right time, and turns it on in a big championship meet like that,” said Hand Head Coach Kelly Smith. “Brooke’s biggest accomplishments this season included learning a new vault with a higher start value and finally making a skill called a giant on uneven bars. She made her giants at SCCs and in our final meet of the season, as well as standing up her new vault. She has great potential for the next two years, and we’ve loved having her compete at a team-of-one with the Hand program.”

—Chris Piccirillo