Gilroy
– At the JV gymnastics league finals meet, to the victors went
the Blow Pops.
And Gilroy’s Veronica Kelly made sure to get one.
Gilroy – At the JV gymnastics league finals meet, to the victors went the Blow Pops.
And Gilroy’s Veronica Kelly made sure to get one.
The freshman took first in floor exercise (9.65) and second in both balance beam (9.1) and vault (9.3) en route to a second-place 36.75 all–around finish behind Saint Francis’ Laurel Van Patten (36.90) in the meet at Gilroy High’s auxiliary gym.
“I was just nervous (before the meet),” Kelly said. “But once you’re out on the floor, you forget everything else.”
As a team, the ‘Stangs took second in the final junior varsity meet of the season with a team score of 173.70. Saint Francis (180.30) won the contest while Los Altos took third (172.35) and Cupertino (167.15) took fourth.
Both Kelly and Amber Minderler scored season–highs in floor. Minderler netted a 9.5, good for third.
Larissa Gomez took fourth in floor with a 9.4. Another top individual performance for Gilroy was Shannon Hubbard’s fourth–place 8.8 on beam. Hubbard also put in a solid floor performance.
“Shannon, on floor, did a skill that she hasn’t worked on at all,” said JV coach Jennifer Yip.
All in all, Yip was happy with her team’s final performance of the season.
“It was much, much better (than in other recent meets),” she said. “The girls worked very hard this week.”
The varsity league finals are Wednesday, May 18. But because the varsity ‘Stangs do not have enough gymnasts to compete as a team, they will be competing for individual honors.
“The competition will be fierce,” said varsity coach Nicki Anagnoston. “They are going to be competing for an (individual) and qualifying score (for the Central Coast Section finals).”
That could prove to be somewhat difficult, because of the stronger competition and the tighter judging that takes place in the league final. However, Samantha Nussbaumer has matched some CCS qualifying marks this season and Erica Law has also been close.
Anagnoston hasn’t yet decided if she will bring any of the junior varsity members up for the varsity league final. But if she does, she said the top candidate would be Kelly.
Veronica’s big night
Floor: 9.65, first
Balance beam: 9.1, second
Vault: 9.3, second
Uneven bars: 8.7, sixth
Overall: 36.75, second
