By Chris Paul
The Londonderry High School Gymnastics team took part in their third meet of the season and were able to come away with their second first place finish of the winter.
The Lancer team traveled to Salem on Thursday night, Jan. 13, and took part in a multi-school meet, one week earlier, the squad cancelled its second home meet of the season due to issues related to COVID-19.
At last week’s meet, the girls were able to show their depth and edge out their host, the Salem Blue Devils, to took first with 128.6 points to Salem’s 128.35. The team from Bedford High School took third with 122.15 and Hollis-Brookline had 101-85-points for fourth.
In the Vault, senior Ella Houghton placed second with an 8.8 and junior Ava Ruppel placed third with an 8.3. Other strong vaults were performed by from senior Nikki Stone and junior Marlie Fitzgerald.
On the Bars: senior Makenna Lord tied for second with an 8.0 and Marlie Fitzgerald placed third with a 7.7. Other solid performances came from freshman Sophia Beauregard and sophomore Amanda Robinson.
The team’s only first place individual finish came on the Beam, where Lilly Haggett scored a 8.7 for the top spot. Ava Ruppel placed third in that event with an 8.4. Peyton Beirne and Amanda Robinson also had stuck routines.
Ella Houghton had another second place finish on the Floor: with an 8.4. Junior Jess Bolduc, Ava Ruppel, and Amanda Robinson also helped to contribute to the team score.
Londonderry head coach Heather Lennon was very pleased with the outcome, “Having to cancel last weeks home meet due to COVID was a hard blow to the team but the girls really worked hard to pull out the win this past week. We definitely have a lot of depth on this team, which helps when we have people who are out. I’m hopeful our team will be back to 100% for the next meet.”
The team will travel north to Plymouth on Saturday, Jan. 22 where we face the Salem team again and squads from Plymouth and Exeter High Schools.