The Darien YMCA gymnastics team soared to success at the New England Invitational USAG meet in Glastonbury. Leading the way were All Around (AA) champions Sofia DeStefano (Level 4, age 7-8), Sofia Fea (4, 13+), Nicole Thompson (5, 11), Kajsa Lundeen (7, Senior) and Kelsey Fedorko (8, 12-14).
Gymnasts competed by level and age group. Anna Primmer paced the Level 3s, placing 2nd on vault, 8th on beam, 7th on floor and 6th AA in 9 Junior. Grace Nash was 7th on floor in 9 Senior. Lauren Smith tied for 3rd on vault and was 9th on floor in 6-8s. Treasa Brown placed 7th on bars and 11th on floor while Kira McCreesh earned her meet high score on vault in 10+.
Led by the super Sofias, the Level 4s earned 3rd place in the team competition. DeStefano swept the podium, winning all four events and the AA, scoring 37.175. Fea added the beam and bars titles to her AA win and placed 2nd on vault and 4th on floor. In the 9s, Emma Kelly won beam with 9.15, placed 9th on bars, 5th on floor and 4th AA. Caterina Pye was 3rd on bars, 6th on beam, 8th on floor and 5th AA. Isabella DeStefano was 2nd on bars and 7th on vault and AA and 6th on floor where she tied with Melina Cardini, who was also 10th on beam and 11th on bars. Gabriela Pye tied Kelly for 6th on floor and was 5th on beam, 8th on bars, 9th on floor and 8th AA. Nima Rahbar placed 2nd on beam and 7th on floor while Devan Grills was 2nd on floor.
In the Level 4 Junior 10s, Saskia Chermayeff placed 3rd on beam, 4th on vault and 7th on floor and AA while Jane Tortorella was 5th on beam. Jamie Santella was the 10 Seniors beam champ with 9.45, placed 6th on bars, 7th on floor and 4th AA while Emma Neaderland was 7th on vault, 8th on bars and 5th on floor. Megan Mitchell earned 6th on beam. Tetyana Banaryk placed 5th on floor in the 12s. Also competing for Darien at Level 4 were Katelyn Secor and Dylan Ross.
The 2nd place Level 5 team was led by AA champ Thompson (36.10), who won the beam and bars titles, placed 4th on vault and 5th on floor. Also in 11s: Holly McGoldrick was 2nd on bars, beam and AA, 4th on floor and 5th on vault; Dillan Aysseh, won floor with 9.15, took 2nd on vault, and 3rd on bars and AA; Sofia Pye, won vault with 9.45 and placed 5th on beam and AA; Lindsay Hall, 4th on beam and 6th on vault; Lizzie Canelli, 4th on floor and 7th on vault; and Christina Pizzani, 7th on bars and beam and 6th on floor.
Lana Schmidt led the 4th place Level 6 team, earning 2nd on bars and floor, 4th on vault and 3rd on beam and AA in the 12s. Tess Keating and Octavia Molkenthin tied for 6th on vault while Keating also took 5th on floor and 6th on beam. In the 13s, Jane Ogden placed 5th on vault and 3rd on all other events and AA. Maeve DeGulis placed 2nd on beam and 4th on floor.
Lundeen led the success for the team champion Level 7s, adding the beam title to her 36.60 AA win and was 5th on bars, and 2nd on vault and floor in Seniors. In Juniors, Gianna Cardini won vault with a soaring 9.7, placed 2nd on bars, beam and AA and 4th on floor. Kaitlyn Moussignac placed 3rd on vault and beam and 4th on bars and AA.
The 2nd place Level 8 team was led by Fedorko, taking 2nd on bars and winning the vault, beam and floor titles on the way to a 37.050 top AA score in the 12-14s. Jessica Freiheit won the vault title for 15-16s, took 3rd on floor and 5th on bars and AA. Sam Gunn won the beam and floor titles in the 17+ group, as well as placing 3rd on bars, 4th on vault and 2nd AA.