By Jake Freudberg
Sports Reporter
The combined Newton South-Newton North boys’ gymnastics team took home the MIAA state title for the second year in a row this past Saturday, capping off another successful season for the team.
Freshman Sam Arber powered the team to victory by taking the all-around individual state crown.
The meet, hosted at Newton North, was a strong triumph for the all-Newton squad, as they took a 162.5-157.1 victory over second place Attleboro, with Braintree (153.0), Lowell (149.9), and Burlington (142.9) rounding out the top five.
Team members said that they felt confident going into this meet thanks to their preparation and were focused on having fun.
“We expected to win but it was important to us to have fun with it,” junior captain Ido Tamir said. “So we joked around before the meet and a bit during, but anything less than a win would’ve been disappointing.”
Tamir and his teammates went on further to say that the victory was a true team effort.
“We all knew what we had to do,” he said. “We stressed not doing anything that we haven’t practiced a lot and doing what we do well.”
Sophomore Adam Iskandar, who only competed in one event, pommel horse, agreed. “We just worked hard and did our best,” he said. “It was a 100 percent team effort.”
In addition to the team’s victory, Newton South freshman Sam Arber won the individual all-around competition, with an overall score of a 43.8, also winning first place on vault (8.5), rings (7.3), pommel horse (6.2), and high bar (6.0).
Arber’s performance was crucial to success, considering the team had to fill the shoes of senior superstar Jonathan Wang, who did not compete in the meet this year, but was one of the main contributors to last year’s state champions.
“[Arber] put everything he’s been working on all season together,” Tamir said.
Arber, who returned to gymnastics after taking two years off from the sport, said winning the all-around “felt great” and “was amazing,” especially with the risk he took performing a new skill on vault – the tsukahara – that ultimately paid off.
“On Thursday, my coach told me to give up [the tsukahara] because I wasn’t going to get it good in time for the meet,” Arber said. “During the third event, parallel bars, I saw we weren’t doing so well, so I decided to ask my coach if I could compete the tsukahara to help our team gain some more points, and I just went for it and landed it.”
With the support of his teammates and his coach, Arber succeeded. “I told him before the meet that he can win first overall, he just needs to stay within himself and perform like he does at practice,” Tamir said.
Iskandar added that Arber’s bold move was not much of a surprise to him. “He is very hard working and always looks to learn new things,” Iskandar said.
Newton seems to be settling in as a perennial powerhouse after its second consecutive state championship, and according to Tamir, the future looks bright for the young team.
“With all the talent we have this year, I can’t wait until next year,” Tamir said.
