The area’s pair of high school gymnastics teams, including Jamesville-DeWitt/F-M and East Syracuse Minoa/Liverpool, will both be close to home when the Section III championships take place this Friday at CNY Gymnastics Center inside Shoppingtown Mall.
They each would have meets last Thursday night, with varying results. In J-D/F-M’s case, it prevailed over Whitesboro in a 138.35-135.75 classic, while ESM/Liverpool could not quite catch up to Baldwinsville in a 128.9-125.5 defeat to the Bees.
With 36.75 all-around points, J-D/F-M’s Taylor Fishkin finished second to Whitesboro star Tiffany Khiamdavanh (37.3 points), but still won the floor exercise with a 9.35 routine, just ahead of the Warriors’ Alyssa Smith (9.3), while also unleashing a 9.4 vault to edge Khiamdavanh’s 9.35.
Moving to uneven bars, Fishkin posted a 9.15, but still got topped by Khiamdavanh and her 9.4. Finally, on balance beam, Fishkin’s 8.85 meant a third-place finish behind Khiamdavanh (9.35) and Taylor Bushey, another Whitesboro star who got a 9.4.
Meanwhile, ESM/Liverpool met Baldwinsville, and the meet proved a close one, too, thanks to the work of Alyssa Penizotto, who led the Spartans with 32.85 all-around points.
Penizotto peaked on the beam, where her 9.3 routine tied teammate Delia Korszeniewski and B’ville’s Madison Brooks for first place. Also, Penizotto was second on the vault with an 8.45 and runner-up on uneven bars with 7.3.
B’ville prevailed with Brooks earning 34.7 all-around points, including a winning 9.0 on uneven bars, while Danielle Marsell, with an 8.5, edged Penizotto for first place on the vault and Erica Weeks claimed victory on the floor with an 8.1 routine.
