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02/20/2023 12:00 PMIn gymnastics, teamwork is as much of an important factor in a team’s success as individual accolades. For the Morgan/Haddam Killingworth/Westbrook gymnastics team, they have that concept mastered due to their small size.
There are only six girls total on the team, making for a family-like atmosphere, and the squad is led by two senior captains, Megan Cafferty and Juliana Gagliardi. In their time away from the co-op, both captains compete in United States of America (USA) Gymnastics. The hard work and dedication the captains have put into the sport, as well as the support that they show their teammates, have allowed them to be successful and be true leaders on the floor.
“They have been doing a great job; they know what to expect at meets. They have been helping the new freshmen get through the season,” said Head Coach Monica Bauer. “They are seasoned athletes and are competing in the offseason of gymnastics as well, with a club team and at Flip Flop gymnastics.”
In women’s gymnastics, athletes compete in some combination of four events. Those events are uneven bars, vault, balance beam, and a floor exercise.
As is the case with any sport, injuries can be a deterrent to a team’s path to dominance, and H-K/W/M has certainly had to face that unfortunate circumstance this season. Juniors Becca Rosenblum-Jones and Hannah Freund are currently both injured; however, Bauer is hopeful to have them back soon and is looking forward to seeing them compete next year. Despite those injuries, the girls have still managed to produce strong individual results and work well together as a team.
“We started off really strong, but two of our athletes were affected by injuries,” said Bauer. “Megan and Juliana are both ranked in the top 40, both being ranked to qualify for the state open meet.”
Bauer added, “having those injuries has been a little bit of a struggle. As far as everything else, I think all of them work very well together as a team; they are supportive of each other and are dedicated to the sport.”
Juliana is ranked 13th in the state for vault, 37th for uneven bars, 15th for the balance beam, and 19th for floor exercises. She is also currently at 16th for the all around.
Megan is currently ranked 23rd for vault, 24th for the balance beam, 40th for floor exercises, and 26th for all around.
On Feb. 13, the co-op team competed at the Shoreline Athletic Conference (SLC) Championship meet but only had three athletes who were able to compete. Even though they couldn’t form a full team to compete with, the girls still made the most of their individual events.
“Shorelines was okay, we only had three competitors, so we were not able to make a team,” said Bauer. “All three girls competed as individuals.”
Juliana placed second on vault, scoring a 9.25, second on balance beam with a score of 8.6, third on floor exercises with a 9.0, and third in the all-around. Additionally, she was named to the All-Shoreline conference team because she placed in the top four for all of her events. She was also the only athlete for H-K/W/M to place at Shorelines.
The co-op team closed out their regular season on Feb. 20, when they had their senior night at Flip Flop gymnastics to honor captains Megan and Juliana.
As the team focuses on locking in on the campaign’s postseason portion, Bauer hopes to have the majority of the team competing.
“I am looking forward to having a full team compete. I should have Megan to compete in all four events and Juliana, Grace (Miller), and Julia (Shove) on bars,” said Bauer.
Despite having been through the toughness of overcoming injuries and not having a full team to compete, Bauer specifically highlighted the vault as a strong suit for the girls when it comes to events.
“Julia has been doing very well, specifically on vault because that is her best event,” said Bauer. “I think our vault scores are typically good as a team, which is great. Grace also does well on vault.”
On Saturday, Feb. 25, H-K/W/M will compete at the team individual championships at Jonathan Law. If any of the girls place in the top three at this competition, they will have the chance to compete at the State Open Championships at New Milford on Saturday, March 4.
Monica Bauer is assisted on the sidelines this season by Carl Cavrell.
The full roster consists of Gagliardi (Haddam-Killingworth), Cafferty (Morgan), Rosenblum-Jones (Haddam-Killingworth), Miller (Haddam-Killingworth), Freund (Westbrook), and Shove (Morgan).