By Chris Paul
The Londonderry High School Gymnastics team had their home meet scheduled for Monday, Jan. 23, rescheduled to take place on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 29, where they were able to claim a meet win over three other schools.
The Lancers finished with a team score of 125.2 for first place in the event that took place at Spectrum Gymnastics Academy in Londonderry. The Spaulding High School team came in second with a score of 88.4 and the Dover Green Wave had 71.65 points and finished in third.
Londonderry head coach, Heather Lennon, chose to compete at Spectrum to give her team a final opportunity to perform on a spring floor before the NHIAA Championship that takes place on Saturday, Feb. 11, at A2 Gym and Cheer in Salem.
At Sunday’s meet, Londonderry had two gymnasts place in the vault. Carlee Anderson had an 8.65 for second place and Ava Ruppel took third with a score of 8.6. Alex Pena managed an 8.1 and Marlie Fitzgerald got an 8.0.
On the Beam, Emma Nadeau had a score of 8.4 for a second-place finish in the event. Ruppel scored 7.9 and Pena finished with a 7.7, but didn’t place.
On the Bars, Londonderry had two top-three finishers. Ruppel took second place with a 6.8 and Anderson had a 6.6 for third place.
In the Floor event, Fitzgerald got Londonderry’s only first-place finish of the afternoon, scoring an 8.65. Pena tied for second place with an 8.6. Ruppel, Anderson, and Peyton Beirne all received a score of 8.45 on the floor, just a half-point shy of placing.
Ava Ruppel took second place in All-Around.
The meet had Londonderry scoring their highest team total of the season and they are slowly getting some of their injured athletes back. Emma Nadeau, is coming off a foot injury that put her in a walking boot for the first half of the season.
Sophia Beauregard is also coming back from what coaches thought was a season-ending injury she sustained in the off season, and has helped the Lancers on bars.
Lennon is optimistic headed into the upcoming state competition. She said, “We continued to have consistent performances in the AA with freshman Alex Peña and senior Ava Ruppel.”
She added, “The coaches are so happy we were able to reschedule this meet and to put up our best score of the season.”
The team is scheduled to host its final meet of the regular season on Thursday night, where they will face multiple opponents, including Pinkerton Academy and Timberlane.