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The Gold Standard: Greenwich Gymnasts Claim FCIAC Title

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The Greenwich High School gymnastics team poses for a team photo after claiming the FCIAC gymnastics championship Saturday afternoon at Jonathan Law High School in Milford. (Paul Silverfarb photo)
The Greenwich High School gymnastics team poses for a team photo after claiming the FCIAC gymnastics championship Saturday afternoon at Jonathan Law High School in Milford. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

The Greenwich High School gymnastics team dominated the regular season and kept the good times rolling along Saturday, claiming both the top individual all-around gymnast and team Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship.

During Saturday’s event that took place at Jonathan Law High School in Milford, Greenwich High School came out on top, placing a team score of 143.00.

“This is just awesome,” GHS head coach Sue Knight said. “I am so happy for the girls because they worked so hard and were so dedicated. I am just super happy for them. We have been consistent throughout the whole season and to do that again at FCIACs, where the girls have a little nerves going, is just amazing. It’s a great day for us.”

The victory and FCIAC title is the first one for the Lady Cardinals since the 1982 season.

“I am so thrilled right now,” Jessica Freiheit said. “This is my third year on the team and it’s really exciting. I know that Greenwich hasn’t won an FCIAC title in a long time, so I am so excited that we got the title and that our hard work paid off.”

Darien took second place with 135.00 points.

“This is just an amazing feeling for us,” Kelsey Fedorko said. “I am so proud of my whole team and it’s awesome to win FCIACs. I am really proud of myself coming this far along in gymnastics and being on that podium is a feeling that I can’t describe. We needed to work really hard during practice and try our hardest every single meet that we competed in until FCIACs.”

Greenwich High School's Adnerys DeJesus works on her floor exercise during the FCIAC championship meet at Jonathan Law. DeJesus won the all-around title with dominating performances throughout the day. (Paul Silverfarb photo)
Greenwich High School’s Adnerys DeJesus works on her floor exercise during the FCIAC championship meet at Jonathan Law. DeJesus won the all-around title with dominating performances throughout the day. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

For the Lady Cardinals, as well as the rest of the competitors at the FCIAC championship meet, no one had a better day than Adnerys DeJesus.

The GHS standout not only finished first in every event on the day, but she was the lone athlete to score and all-around total of 38 or higher and took the gold medal with a 38.500.

“This whole thing has been really overwhelming,” DeJesus said. “I am so proud of myself and the girls on the team. We’ve been working so hard to get this title and I am just proud of how we did. My scores were pretty high and we were all really high, but so were my teammate’s score. We managed to keep our feeling under control and not let it get to us. We did really well.”

And DeJesus’ performance was so dominating that during her floor exercise, nearly every eye was on her. The other events were finished and DeJesus stole the show. With other teams watch her from the bleachers and some others joining her teammates on the gym floor, DeJesus ended her routine with a thunderous applause and took home a top score of 9.650.

“She was awesome,” Knight said. “Adnerys is so talented and has so much power. She makes it look easy out there. She was wonderful in everything today and had an awesome vault.”

During that vault event, DeJesus crushed the competition and landed a score of 9.700. The next closest was Darien’s Samantha Aparicio, who finished with a score of 9.300.

In the other two events, DeJesus was also golden, placing tops on beam with a score of 9.550 and on bars with a score of 9.600. Again, DeJesus cruised to the title on bars, as Aparicio was second overall with a score of 9.050

Not to be outdone for Greenwich was Fedorko. While Darien’s Aparicio took second all-around, Fedorko was right there for the bronze, netting an all-around score of 36.550.

With head coach Sue Knight looking on, the Greenwich High School gymnastics team competes on the beam during the FCIAC championship meet. (Paul Silverfarb photo)
With head coach Sue Knight looking on, the Greenwich High School gymnastics team competes on the beam during the FCIAC championship meet. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

“She did wonderful,” Knight said. “For a freshman to come into such a big meet like FCIACs and to be so calm and determined was awesome. She did an awesome job. She stayed focused and stuck her routine.”

On beam, Fedorko claimed silver, posting an impressive score of 9.300 and just edged out Aparicio, who took third with a score of 9.250. During the floor exercise, Fedorko claimed third overall with a score of 9.400 and was only a point away from second.

On bars, Fedorko once again finished third, posting a score of 8.700. She finished her day by just edging out Trumbull’s Natalie Smerling for third on vault with a score of 9.150. Smerling’s score was 9.100.

“My strength today was probably beam or floor,” Fedorko said. “I’ve been doing really well on them lately and I’m so proud of myself and my whole team. I am so glad that we won FCIACs and I am so proud of my team.”

In addition, Big Red had some other big performances throughout the meet. Overall, Jessica Freiheit grabbed a top 10 performance, scoring an all-around score of 34.550. That was good enough for sixth place during the finals and tied Fairfield Ludlowe’s Nicole Huntsman.

“We knew that every point counted,” said Freiheit. “We wanted to make sure that we were as clean as we could be. Even if we had some falls or mess ups, we wanted to make sure we earned every tenth and worked our hardest to make sure we could have clean and consistent routines.”

During the vault, Freiheit claimed fifth overall, posting a score of 9.000 and was only one of five finishers to achieve a score 9.000 or higher. Freiheit did one better on bars, grabbing fourth overall and tied Trumbull’s Smerling with a score of 8.650.

Freiheit also tied 0n floor. Her score of 8.850 place her eighth and tied Darien’s Nicole Carlo. In addition, Freiheit’s teammate, Aisling Brock wasn’t far behind on floor, as she took home a ninth place performance with a score of 8.800.

Brock’s score on floor helped propel the GHS gymnast to a top 10 all-around score, grabbing the 10th spot with a score of 32.500. Brock finished 10th on beam with a score of 8.250, while on vault she grabbed 24th overall (8.000).

Not to be outdone was Aisling Brock’s twin sister Fiona, who had a stellar performance on the beam. Fiona Brock tied Wilton’s Samantha Farhi with a score of 8.400 and that was good enough for seventh place.

That’s not the only time Fiona Brock and Farhi were named in the same sentence. Fiona Brock and Farhi once again shared the exact same score on the bars, netting a score of 8.000 that placed the duo tied for 15th. On floor, Fiona Brock and Farhi tied for 25th overall, posting a score of 8.300.

“I am just so happy for them because they really do work so hard and take it serious, but they also know how to have fun,” Knight said. “They enjoy being on this team and that means so much to me.”

To read more about Big Red’s performance at FCIACs and to hear more from Knight and the rest of the Lady Cardinals, check out Friday’s Greenwich Sentinel.

 

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