She is part of the trio that helped get it started for Valley Regional gymnastics three seasons ago as a young freshman. She'd only been practicing gymnastics for a short while before that, but she competed like a pro in high school and for the USA Gymnastics team at Shoreline Gymnastics in Old Saybrook, where she got her start. Watching her during her events, it's no surprise that Margaret Dubey of Essex is part of the elite few group of athletes that has won three state titles in a four-year span.

"After finishing as a close runner-up in states my freshman year, that caused me to think our team was pretty good and how much potential we had," says Margaret. "I knew I wanted to continue gymnastics throughout high school because it would be incredible to win a championship. I realized my love for the sport and it motivated me to do better. I never thought in a million years I'd get the chance to win three titles."

Margaret began her gymnastics career as a five-year-old at Shoreline Gymnastics. She took kids' classes and then took a hiatus before she joined back up again at age nine, taking non-competitive classes once again. After a few years, she earned a spot on the Level 4 team and started competing for the first time.

"I got on the team really late and I felt a little insecure because I didn't have the experience and knowledge of the sport like everyone else did," says Margaret. "I might have been as good as them physically, but I wasn't as experienced mentally and it was harder to get into that mindset. It was a whole different world competing, but it was worth the challenge."

Margaret moved quickly up the ladder, winning her first competition in Level 7 in an invitational meet.

"It was the first time I had ever won a competition in my age group," says Margaret. "I never felt so excited in my life up to that point. I placed first in all my events and that never happened to me before. I didn't even have my best meet and it was kind of a shock that I won-I got up on the podium and said to myself, "wow, I got to first place.""

Although injury has kept Margaret sidelined from the USA team on and off, she plans to return to the team full-time this season since the high school season is over.

"It's a big deal for me to continue with Shoreline Gymnastics, although I'll always be injured," says Margaret. "But I'm trying to stay healthy and continue this year in Level 9."

Margaret admits she's remained focused mostly on the high school season the past several years. Coming into her freshman season at Valley, the squad had four gymnasts-the minimum amount a school is allowed to have to compete as a team-and didn't expect to make it as far as they did.

"When we started competing, I didn't think we'd stand out like we did," says Margaret. "I didn't think four girls as a team would be enough because most teams have a lot more girls than us. We always had a lot of pressure in every meet because all our scores would count, but we did well and dealt with the pressure, making people realize we could make a difference."

As previously mentioned, the unit finished as Class S runners-up by a mere .05 points, but made up for it the following season when they won the state championship for the first time.

"That was the best day of my life," remembers Margaret. "We were all really scared waiting for the final results for that meet. We knew the year before we had lost by so little and we were really scared the same thing would happen again. Waiting for those results was the scariest thing ever, but when we heard our name, my jaw dropped and we just couldn't believe it. I'd never been so happy in my entire life."

Despite being plagued by injuries throughout her junior year, along with her teammates, Valley won the state championship again and Margaret individually proved she could overcome obstacles by competing at her best ability.

"We all had a lot of problems last year, but when it came down to states, we all tried our best to do better than we had been going throughout the year and we put our injuries aside and competed," says Margaret. "We went from being seventh in states to finishing first."

Margaret and her teammates then accomplished the seemingly impossible this winter, winning their third consecutive state title. As a team captain, Margaret continued to work through her injuries to compete at her best throughout the season but suffered a nasty fall in the state meet that ended her competition early.

"I felt a lot of pressure this year because we were seniors," says Margaret. "We had a few more girls on our team, but as seniors, we wanted to finish our last year the best we could. Every meet it was pressure to not mess up. In general, we wanted to have fun and enjoy ourselves while it lasted. In the state meet when I got hurt and couldn't compete in the floor event, I was so afraid it'd be all my fault if we didn't win because I had to be taken out. But the team picked everyone up and we still won. It was really emotional for me and we really deserved that title after working so hard."

Margaret has attended the State Open meet the past three years but was forced to miss it this year due to her injury and standards being raised for qualification. Despite that, Margaret has those three state championships on her résumé , as well as Second Team All-State her freshman year, junior, and senior seasons and First Team All-State her sophomore year.

Margaret admits it's always been her dream to compete in college, but with so few schools offering gymnastics and her past injuries, she admits retirement is on the horizon.

"It will be very sad for me since it's been my passion for a very long time, but I'll never forget it because these were the best years of my life," says Margaret. "It's difficult to choose a college based on gymnastics since there are so few choices. I'd definitely be interested in coaching when I'm older-I've gone through so much mentally in this sport so to teach others how to deal with these complications would be awesome."

Besides gymnastics, Margaret will play softball this spring with the Valley team in her second season. She is also a chorus member at Valley and an honor roll student.

"I'd like to thank my teammates for giving me support throughout the years, challenges and obstacles we've overcome," says Margaret. "I want to thank my parents for always being there for me and supporting me in everything I do and my friends for being there and listening to me complain about my difficulties in gymnastics."