Greenwich gymnasts complete championship triple crown

During the previous two winter high school sports seasons, Greenwich won the team championship at the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Girls Gymnastics Class L Championships and shortly thereafter placed second at the State Open to perennial power Woodstock Academy.

This year’s edition of Greenwich’s Cardinals went one better.

Greenwich won the State Open for the first time in school history in early March to add to the third consecutive state Class L crown the Cardinals captured in late February.

When the Cardinals won the 2018 CIAC Girls Gymnastics State Open on March 3 at Pomperaug High School they snapped Woodstock Academy’s streak of six straight State Open championships from 2012-17.

Greenwich had a team score of 143.525 points and won by a comfortable margin of 5.1 points over runner-up Woodstock Academy (138.425) at the State Open.

The Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference had three of the top four teams at the State Open as Trumbull placed third with 136.775 points and Wilton’s Warriors were fourth with 132.075 points a week after they captured the state Class M championship with 136.175 points.

Just as she has been doing for the last few years, the superb senior Adnerys De Jesus led the way for Greenwich.

De Jesus and her teammate, Kelsey Fedorko, placed 1-2 in the all-around for the Cardinals at the State Open. De Jesus won the all-around with 36.675 points and Fedorko was runner-up with 36.225.

De Jesus won two of the four events at the State Open. She won the vault and the uneven bars with the identical scores of 9.575. She placed second on the floor exercise (9.55) behind Fedorko (9.6), and De Jesus was fifth on the balance beam (8.975).

In addition to her victory on the floor exercise, Fedorko placed sixth on the balance beam (8.975), tied for seventh on the uneven bars (8.7) and was 13th on the vault (8.95)

Ellie Marino was seventh all-around (35.6) as she was third on the balance beam (9.025) and tied for seventh on the uneven bars (8.7) while helping contribute to Greenwich’s championship.

Jessica Olin placed fourth all-around with 36.075 points to lead Wilton’s Warriors to fourth place. Olin was sixth on the vault (9.1) and uneven bars (8.75) and eighth on the balance beam (8.825). Lilly Burns of Wilton took eighth on the floor exercise (9.1).

Trumbull’s Samantha Markland was fifth all-around (35.875) while leading the Eagles to third place. Markland was runner-up on the balance beam (9.1) and she placed third on the uneven bars (9.125) and fourth on the vault (9.2).

Also for Trumbull’s Eagles, Natalie Smerling was seventh on the vault (9.1) and Merritt Stevenson tied for ninth on the balance beam (8.8).

Also from the FCIAC at the State Open: Fairfield Ludlowe’s Ava Mancini tied for ninth on the vault (9.05) and Fairfield Warde’s Tess Vincent tied for 11th on the vault (9.0).

The FCIAC swept the top three places in team scoring at the 2018 CIAC Girls Gymnastics Class L Championships. Greenwich won with 145.425 points and was followed by Trumbull (140.900) and Ludlowe (135.190).

De Jesus won all four events as she had a 10.0 on the vault, a 9.55 on the uneven bars, a 9.7 on the balance beam and a 9.725 on the floor exercise. There were no all-around scores officially scored but De Jesus’ four high scores did add up to 38.975 points.

Fedorko had the second highest score on the floor exercise (9.475) while she and Marino tied for the second highest score on the balance beam (9.2).

Markland had the second highest score on the vault (9.425) and third highest score on the uneven bars (9.25) while Stevenson had the second highest score on the vault (9.4).

Wilton won the 2018 CIAC Girls Gymnastics Class M Championships by 1.7 points over runner-up Daniel Hand. The champion Warriors scored 136.175, Hand had 134.475 and Pomperaug was third with 128.225.

Olin won three events – the vault (9.2), the uneven bars (8.85) and the floor exercise (9.625) – and she was runner-up on the balance beam (8.8) while leading Wilton to its eighth state class championship.

Wilton won its four previous Class M titles in 1983, ’87, ’88 and 2009 and three straight Class S crowns from 1994-96.

Some of the Greenwich Cardinals cheer on a teammate during the floor exercises at the 2018 FCIAC gymnastics championships at Westhill High School. — Dave Stewart/HAN Network photo

Leave a Comment