By Chris Paul
The Londonderry High School Gymnastics traveled to Manchester to compete in a Multi-School meet held at Noha’s Gymnastics Academy on Sunday, Jan. 2 and did very well despite some setbacks.
In that event, the host team, Bishop Guertin, was able to walk away with the top spot with 137.3 points. The Lancer squad took a close second with 132.6 points, Pelham High School was third with 119.3 and Goffstown High School came in fourth with 103.55 points.
Sophomore Lilly Haggett had an exceptional night and was able to place in each of the events to help add to the team total with last meets star, senior Ella Houghton out of the line up.
In Vault, Lilly Haggett took second place with her 9.05 and junior Ava Ruppel got third with a 9.0.
The team also had solid vaults from senior Nicole Stone, junior Marlie Fitzgerald, and freshman Emma Nadeau.
On the Bars, Haggett was the only Lancer to add to the team total with a second place score of 8.4.
Senior Makenna Lord, Nicole Stone, and Ava Ruppel also put up strong routines on bars.
On the Beam, Haggett placed third with her 8.8 performance, but Ruppel, Nadeau, junior Peyton Beirne, and sophomore Amanda Robinson also had beautifully stuck beam routines.
On the Floor routine, Ruppel captured second with her 9.0 and Haggett took third with an 8.9. Other great performances came from Fitzgerald, Lord, and Beirne.
Haggett was also able to grab second place in All Around.
Head coach, Heather Lennon was happy with the outcome overall, “Having a meet over Christmas break is never easy since many times the girls truly need a break to rest and recover. We had our two AA pull out last minute due to illness but many of the girls on the team were able to step in to help the team. Lilly Haggett completed a vault she hadn’t done in over a year and ended up placing in the AA for us. I’m so proud of how these ladies pulled together as a team and put up our best score of the season thus far.”
Assistant coach Emily Panacopoulos was also pleased with how the team performed, “The girls did awesome today, they improved their score by almost four-points from the last meet. This was the first time we got to see them compete on a spring floor and we were happy with how they did.”
The Lancer team will have their second home meet of the season on Thursday, Jan. 6, and then another meet on the road the following Thursday, Jan. 13, against Salem High School at A2 Gym and Cheer.