Women’s Club Gymnastics Road to Daytona

BY CHRISTIAN RODRIGUEZ

Senior Staff Writer

The women’s club gymnastics team opened their season on Nov. 11, with a second place finish at their meet at the University of Connecticut (UConn).

UConn is a familiar place for the gymnastics team for their season opener, as this was their eighth consecutive year making the trip. A contributor to their success at UConn was senior Hannah Rennie.

According to Sacred Heart athletics, Rennie placed second out of the entire meet for all around, beam, bars and floor. She also placed third for vault.

There were some challenges that had to be overcome in getting the score.

“We faced some adversity in team numbers, as the other teams had more gymnasts, which allowed them to have more options when deciding which gymnasts would be competing which events,” said Rennie. “Despite not having the numbers, a lot of our teammates stepped up and competed in events they may not have wanted too, which contributed to our second place finish.”

The team looks to build on their chemistry in trying to reach their ultimate goal, which is to reach Nationals in Daytona Beach, Fla.

“Our team was extremely positive throughout the entire meet against UConn and really supported one another,” said Rennie. “To me, this is one of the most important aspects of the competition, so I was so excited to see how supportive our team was.”

The road to Daytona has been evident in and away from the gym. They team has been raising money by having different fundraising methods to make the Nationals trip a reality and using that as motivation throughout the season.

“Almost every week we have an event from selling donuts, to asking for donations, and even wrapping books at Barnes & Noble,” said Rennie.

The team had a meet scheduled for Dec. 1 but it wound up being canceled due to a shortage of judges. The meet against UConn was the last meet for the team before the start of their spring season.

“Our training techniques focus a lot on consistency and endurance,” said junior Allison Bertolozzi. “Having the confidence and ability to perform a skill is one thing but connecting those skills into a full routine makes competing much more difficult.”

The team practices in the gym twice a week for three hours. They also have an additional lifting time once a week.

“At practices, we try to focus on consistency and numbers, to perfect our skills we will be competing,” said Rennie. “We have been looking at the requirements and altering our routines if we see that we need to make a change.”

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