Greenwich High Gymnasts Golden Yet Again at FCIACs

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After claiming its first FCIAC title since 1982 last season, the Greenwich High School gymnastics team celebrates winning back-to-back FCIAC championships Saturday afternoon at Jonathan Law High School in Milford. (Paul Silverfarb photo)
After claiming its first FCIAC title since 1982 last season, the Greenwich High School gymnastics team celebrates winning back-to-back FCIAC championships Saturday afternoon at Jonathan Law High School in Milford. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

By Paul Silverfarb
Sentinel Editor

The Greenwich High School gymnastics team was together once again, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

After dealing with illnesses and injuries throughout most of the regular season, the Lady Cardinals finally had their top athletes competing at the same time, and took the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship meet by storm.

“This is such an amazing feeling,” GHS standout gymnast Adnerys De Jesus said. “Last year was incredible because it was our first title in a long time. We came back here today knowing we had to be solid and not have that many mistakes. Last year was the first title in a long time, but this year we came here determined to keep the title in Greenwich.”

During Saturday morning’s finals at Jonathan Law High School, Greenwich dominated the top two spots in the all-around, had stellar performance from other gymnasts and defended its FCIAC crown by placing tops yet again with a score of 143.250.

“This feels wonderful,” Greenwich High School head coach Sue Knight said. “We had a rough regular season and never really had our top four girls in all at once. They were either hurt or sick, but it’s great that we have depth because that pulled us through the season. But today was had everybody in at the right place and that was wonderful.”

Placing second overall was a tough Trumbull High School squad, netting a score of 138.550. In third was Darien High School with a score of 133.350, and right behind the Blue Wave was Fairfield Ludlowe, which took fourth with a score of 132.800.

“This is crazy and I can’t believe it,” Big Red’s Kelsey Fedorko said. “Me and my team have been working so hard this year and last year to win FCIACs. I just can’t believe that we did that again. In order to win FCIACs again, we had to help each other out and stay confident. We tried our hardest and cheered each other on.”

Rounding out the top five was Wilton, as they netted a score of 131.150.

“It’s really amazing, especially since it’s out second year in a row,” senior captain Jessica Freiheit said. “I never could have dreamed of us winning two years in a row. This is such an amazing feeling. Everybody works really hard, so I am really excited that everything paid off. This year was a little difficult because we felt the pressure of last year’s accomplishments, but we work on setting goals and staying consistent on our skills.”

And Knight couldn’t be more proud of how far the problem has come. While Big Red has been close to FCIAC gold several times, they weren’t able to capture that elusive championship. That was until last year, when Greenwich was unstoppable and won its first FCIAC crown since 1982.

Now they can say they are back-to-back champions.

“It’s a nice change,” Knight said. “There have been times, many years ago, where we haven’t made States. So, we are in a good place and I owe it all to the girls. I have year-round gymnasts and that makes all the difference in the world.”

Overall, no one was better than De Jesus. Not only did she defend her all-around title from last year, but she did so in grand fashion, taking top honors in all four exercises by dominating the competition.

“It felt so good,” De Jesus said. “Coming in here and having a repeat like we did last year was amazing. We had a lot of trouble this year, with a couple of girls getting hurt, so it was definitely a good win for us because we know how good of a team Trumbull is and we were able to defend that title.”

De Jesus was in top form on vault, taking the gold with a score of 9.750.

“I think I did the best on the vault, although I fell on my second vault attempt,” De Jesus said. “My first vault was pretty good. Vault kind of comes naturally to me. It’s so much fun that I don’t really have to think about what I am doing. On other events I have to put my head into it.”

Greenwich High School all-around champion Adnerys De Jesus takes to the floor exercise during Saturday's FCIAC championship meet at Jonathan Law High School. De Jesus took top honors in all four exercises, as well as in the all-around, posting a score of 38.400. Teammate Kelsey Fedorko wasn't far behind, as she joined De Jesus on the podium, taking the silver in all-around with a score of 36.450. (Paul Silverfarb photo)
Greenwich High School all-around champion Adnerys De Jesus takes to the floor exercise during Saturday’s FCIAC championship meet at Jonathan Law High School. De Jesus took top honors in all four exercises, as well as in the all-around, posting a score of 38.400. Teammate Kelsey Fedorko wasn’t far behind, as she joined De Jesus on the podium, taking the silver in all-around with a score of 36.450. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

On the floor exercise she once again was tops, netting a score of 9.600. On bars, she posted a top score of 9.500 and rounded out her day with a score of 9.550 on beam.

“She flew through the air again,” Knight said. “It’s so relaxing to watch her. She just flies so high. I guess she has springs in her legs and wings as well. It’s a great feeling knowing she’s on our team, but the team also knows that they can’t just rely on her. They have to work hard and they know it’s not just one person. We are a team, but Adnerys is wonderful, that’s for sure.”

Joining De Jesus at the top of the all-around podium was teammate Fedorko, who netted silver in every event and took second with a score of 36.450.

“Kelsey was wonderful for us today,” Knight said. “She really did a great job. I think she tied one of her career highs. She stepped up and did a really good job. I am so proud of her.”

Fedorko’s best score took place on beam, where she netted a score of 9.150. On floor and bars, Fedorko took second with a score of 9.100 on each event. She also had a 9.100 on vault, but shared her silver with Trumbull’s Samantha Markland, who tied Fedorko with a score of 9.100.

“I was scared, but I took all that nervousness and scaredness and put it all out there during each event of FCIACs,” Fedorko said. “I tried my hardest and knew I had the team to back me up.”

Also having a standout day was teammate Gianna Cardini. She finished FCIACs with an all-around score of 34.750 and that was good enough for Greenwich’s third podium spot on the day, taking sixth place overall.

Cardini had her best outing on vault, where she finished fourth overall with a score of 8.950. On floor, Cardini finished in a tie with Trumbull’s Ashleigh Johnson for fifth place overall with a score of 8.800. On beam, Cardini was sixth place overall, netting a score of 8.600 and she finished the day tied with Staples’ Margaret West for ninth with a score of 8.400.

Also earning a top 10 finish was Freiheit, who took home an all-around score of 33.340 and placed ninth overall. Her best performance was on vault, where she scored 8.750, good enough for sixth in the competition. She also grabbed another sixth place spot, as she nailed a score of 8.700 on bars.

Freiheit competed on floor and posted a score of 8.400, while also competing on beam and finishing with a score of 7.600.

“I was a little bit nervous, I’m not going to lie,” Freiheit said. “I sprained my ankle, so I really haven’t been full into it yet. But this was my first meet being 100 percent back in, so I was nervous. But I had my team supporting me and everybody was there, so it got my nerves down.”

The GHS gymnastics team defended its FCIAC championship in grand fashion during the meet that took place at Jonathan Law High School. (Paul Silverfarb photo)
The GHS gymnastics team defended its FCIAC championship in grand fashion during the meet that took place at Jonathan Law High School. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

In addition to the three top 10 finishers, Greenwich High had several other breakout performances. To duo of Celine Perrin and Alexandra Trotman took home top 50 finishes, as Perrin finished 44th and Trotman 45th.

Both Perrin and Trotman competed in two event each. Perrin battled on the floor exercise and took home 14th overall and a score of 7.800, while ending the day 15th on vault with a score of 8.000.

Trotman competed in the events Perrin didn’t. On beam, Trotman finished 14th with a score of 7.800 and also took home a 17th place performance on bars, posting a score of 7.850.

Not far behind the duo of Trotman and Perrin was Valerie Cella, who finished 53rd overall with a total score of 13.900. Competing in two events, the beam and floor exercise, Cella took home a 7.000 and 6.900, respectively.

“This was such a rewarding day,” Cella said. “I am really proud of our team. We went out there and gave it our best. Personally, I was injured for half the season, so I just got back and got cleared to compete. So it meant a lot for all of us to compete as a team and finally have everybody back.”

Juliet Freiheit competed on vault, posting a score of 7.400, and teammate Nika Sibley battled on bars and took home a score of 6.300.

“I am so proud of them, especially today,” Knight said. “We weren’t feeling super confident, especially that we haven’t been practicing that much recently as a team, but they all came through perfectly. They’ve been working super hard because they knew they had to in order to win FCIACs.”

Greenwich will be back in action on Feb. 25, when it travels to Pomperaug High School for competition in the CIAC class L championship meet. Knight said that she’s thrilled for the extra week off from gymnastics.

“I am happy for the extra week because now we can heal up and get rid of all the sickness,” Knight said. “They can rest their muscles so that’s good. I would like to see us win states. We will be in it with Trumbull and I think we are the two top teams in class L, so hopefully we can repeat as champions.”

And on March 4, Greenwich will travel to Woodstock Academy for competition in the CIAC State Opens.

“It’s great having FCIACs this early because we will be able to look back at any mistakes and really try and work on the small things,” Jessica Freiheit said. “If we work on the small things and do those well, the big things will take care of themselves.

For De Jesus, winning FCIACs for the second time in a row was great. However, she also said that the victory will only help Big Red’s chances at the state level.

“This win definitely gives us a lot more confidence, and now we know what to work on and how to get better,” De Jesus said. “When we get to States, we are going to be just as solid, if not better, than we were at FCIACs. We’ve been working really hard, day in and day out, so I am really proud of the girls.”

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