By Liam O’Brien
Managing Editor of Sports
While the boys gymnastics team starred this past Saturday with a state championship victory, the girls team was equally as impressive on the mats, garnering a first-place finish at the Dual County League Championships.
Led by the performance from senior Kalena Wang, who earned DCL Gymnast of the Year honors by compiling a Newton South all-around record of 37.6 points in the event, the Lions recorded a season-high 142.6 points on the afternoon to edge out bitter rival Westford, which finished in second place.
“The team and personal wins were an incredible way to end my DCL career,” Wang said. “After having competed in the DCL for four years, it felt great to end with the DCL title.”
Wang finished first on the bars with 9.55 points, first on the beam with 9.3 points, second in the floor event with a 9.5-point showing, and third in the vault event with 9.2 points.
It was a fitting DCL end to a stellar four-year career with Newton South for Wang, who has experienced tremendous improvements in each of her four seasons with the team.
Luckily for the Lions, freshman Julie Schoen appears to be ready to assume a leadership role in the absence of Wang next year and beyond, as she earned a second-place finish on the day with a 37.1-point showing.
“Julie had a really good meet,” Wang said. “She broke the school record on the floor, and had solid routines on every other event. Her routines have been consistent throughout the entire season, and her DCL performance showed that.”
In her school-record performance in the floor exercise, Schoen earned 9.65 points while chalking up 9.5 points in her first-place finish in the vault exercise. She also placed third behind Wang in the bars with a score of 9.05 and third on the beam with an 8.9-point display.
Senior Alexa Rhynd, who concluded her Dual County League career with a crucial effort for the Lions, also helped lead the way for the DCL victory, finishing fourth in the floor event with a score of 9.0 points and sixth on the beam with an 8.4-point performance.
The team will look to continue its winning ways on Feb. 20 as it heads to Sectionals. Until then, the team will look to make strides in practice.
“Some of us are upgrading skills in our routines, but most are trying to work on perfecting our current skills,” Wang said. “Sectionals is in two weeks, so our practices until then will be spent on just cleaning up our routines.”
