Lady Mustang gymnastics team topples Los Altos, 113.8-107.6
GILROY – The Lady Mustang tumblers fought off the butterflies of performing in front of their hometown crowd for the first time this season in Tuesday’s meet to down league-foe Los Altos, 113.8-107.6.
“It was their first home meet so I think that can be nerve-racking, but they were generally pretty comfortable,” head coach Nichole Anagnoston said. “Once the meet got started, they settled down. We had some good performances. Maybe the nerves were good for them.”
Sophomore Erin Kinkel placed a team-high fourth in the all-around with 33.7 points, finishing third on bars (8.4), fourth on beam (8.6) and fifth on vault (8.45).
“She’s very consistent,” said Anagnoston of her first-year varsity gymnast. “She definitely is a focused competitor.”
Senior Luz Gonzalez finished fifth in the all-around with a 32.2 tally, placing second on floor (9.2), fifth on beam (8.0), fifth on bars (6.7) and sixth on vault (8.3).
“(Her floor exercise) is where she really found her groove,” Anagnoston said. “She definitely set (her performance on bars) aside and was strong in her next three events.”
Senior Marliz Copado placed in three events, taking fourth on vault (8.5) and floor (8.7) as well as sixth on beam (7.5). In addition, sophomore Samantha Nussbaumer scored an 8.7 on floor to place fourth and help the Lady Mustangs to their first league victory.
Following Monday’s home meet against Cupertino at 5 p.m., Gilroy will compete in the SVCAL Finals on May 11 at Twisters Gym in Mountain View at 5 p.m. If the team or any individuals make the CCS cut, they will advance to the May 18 section finals.
“Our goals for varsity are to qualify individually in our best events for CCS because we have a small varsity squad. We’re not able to field a full team,” Anagnoston said. “That squad is also slowly adding events, so we’re kind of inching our way up in team scores.”
The junior varsity squad also defeated Los Altos by a 173-166 margin. The inexperienced unit of first-time tumblers broke a string of three straight undefeated JV seasons, but the team’s progress through the year has them shooting for a league title.
“I think we knew that going into the season,” Anagnoston said. “They’re a new team, a lot of them new to the sport. Little by little, they’ve been chipping away and progressing and now we’re starting to win meets.”
The JV team is coached by three Gilroy High alums, Jennifer Yip, Jenny Spohr, and Gerardo Mendoza.
“They’ve really been trying to work on building competitive spirit within the girls,” Anagnoston said. “They had to learn the sport and now they’re getting the hang of it and their athleticism is starting to show through. We’ve got our eye on league finals.”
