While it must be stated that she was never spotted yawning during the state high school gymnastics championships at Salem High School last Saturday, Feb. 15, Londonderry High freshman gymnastics standout Maddy Britting had no trouble dealing with the pressure and intensity of that event for the first time on that big day.
The diminutive ninth grader – who rebounded from an injury recently with excellent performances in the Lady Lancers’ last several regular season meets – became the state champion on the vault (score of 9.3), snagged fourth places in the all-around (35.025) and on the uneven bars (8.650), and wound up in a three-way tie for sixth in the floor exercise (8.850) as well.
Along with putting forth the best showing by an LHS gymnast in some years, Britting paced her Lady Lancers to a very solid fourth-place team finish at the title event. Pinkerton won the state crown with a point total of 138.425 – its third state championship in the last four years – while the defending champs from Salem High were second (133.275), the Bishop Guertin Lady Cardinals of Nashua claimed third (128.275), and Britting and her Londonderry crew ended up less than four points behind the Lady Cards (124.625) in the fourth slot.
“I just came in trying to do my best,” said the fantastic freshman. “I’m coming off of a concussion, but I’m satisfied with the way things went today.”
The Lancers’ well-seasoned seniors Isabella Hernandez, Michaela Giandello, Molly Koon, Emily Raymond, and Steph Pestka can all now head off into the next stages of their athletic and academic lives knowing that, in Britting, their former gymnastics program has a talented and unflappable young standout to lead the way, potentially for some time to come.