West gymnastics caps off 1st year with title

By ALEX SPONSELLER
Posted 2/26/20

By ALEX SPONSELLER The Cranston West gymnastics team had an epic first year as a program, winning all but one meet and winning last weekend's Division II State Championship at Rhode Island College. "e;It was a great day and a great meet. We were super

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West gymnastics caps off 1st year with title

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The Cranston West gymnastics team had an epic first year as a program, winning all but one meet and winning last weekend’s Division II State Championship at Rhode Island College.

“It was a great day and a great meet. We were super excited since it was our first time competing as a program at states. We were excited to qualify and to see their hard work pay off was amazing,” West coach Allie DiBiase.

Brooke Anderson was West’s top all-around performer, taking home a seventh-place finish with 34.725 points overall. Emily Parillo finished behind her in ninth with 34.375 points scored. Madison Cournoyer finished with 33.5 points as well.

Anderson led the team in both the bars and floor, while Parillo had the highest score in the vault and beam.

This was West’s first appearance in the RIIL State Championships, and DiBiase was proud to see her club rise to the occasion.

“We knew that we had girls that have competed and had experience, but I don’t think we really expected to have such a successful season. They all were so happy to get a program for their school, it made them want to come to the gym, go to practice, work hard, I think that really helped them,” said DiBiase.

The Falcons worked hard at practice in the weeks prior, adding new wrinkles to their routines and making sure that they brought their best to RIC.

“The girls had two weeks to prepare so many of them added new things to their routines, things to make it a little more difficult to help their scores. I just told the girls to be confident and to do what we did all season. It definitely showed and they were able to just go out there and have fun,” said DiBiase.

The Falcons now look toward the 2020-21 winter. West’s roster did not include any seniors and was led primarily by underclassmen, so the bar will be set high entering the team’s second year as a program.

DiBiase hopes that this season’s success will help shed light on the team moving forward and attract more local gymnasts to join the club.

“Hopefully (the state championship win) is going to do a lot, because sometimes if a school doesn’t have a program then girls will go to schools that do,” said DiBiase. “Hopefully our girls in middle school will see that the high school has a good program and will want to be a part of it.”

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