Solid 2nd: Harwood gymnasts see best finish at state meet in their lifetime
March 20, 2021 | By Katie Martin After an unusually short season that included one of three meets canceled and an 0-2 record, Harwood Union gymnasts headed to Williston for the state title meet March 13 planning their best strategy but not knowing what to expect.
The competition at Green Mountain Training Center in Williston was closed to spectators and controlled for public health precautions with the nine competing teams divided into two sessions. Harwood competed in the morning group along with Champlain Valley Union, Montpelier and South Burlington. The others participated in an afternoon round. Heavy-hitter Essex, which usually hosts the state meet, did not compete in the state meet.
The long day made for a long wait for results. “Tanya Cheney and I were getting pretty impatient waiting for the results of the gymnastics championships Saturday night,” said coach Anissa Davis, referring to her partner head coach. “We were hoping for top four. We had a plan. We had our goals. We knew what we wanted to hit for scores – and we came out better! [Assistant Coach] Shawn Cheney joked it took so long for the results to come out because Harwood going in was such an underdog they must have triple-checked the scores before sending them out!” Davis joked.
And while the first-place finish for first-time team Burr and Burton stole the spotlight, Harwood gymnasts and coaches had cause for much celebration. The Highlanders’ second-place finish was the best for the program since 1993 – before any of the team members were even born.
Davis said the team took the season slow and steady, working on their skills after not being in the gym since last year. The risk of injury was real, so her team had to play for the long run in a very short season. “Our team peaked the week of states – about three days later than aimed for, but it all seems to have worked out in the end,” said Davis.
Harwood had a team score of 126.35, behind first-place Burr and Burton with 135.275 points. Montpelier was third with 125.575 and defending champions CVU just a hair behind in fourth at 125.525; St. Johnsbury was within a point in fifth place with a score of 124.450. Burlington and Colchester tied for sixth place with 116.625 apiece; they were followed by Milton at 99.325 for seventh and South Burlington with 89.525 for eighth place.
As for Harwood’s individual results, sophomore Kai McGrath had standout results with a third-place finish in the all-around rankings, a fourth place on bars and sixth on beam. Julia Biedermann had a top finish in the vault competition, coming in fifth.
The gymnastics team this year was small compared to some in its history, but the program has grown from where it was just two seasons ago. Davis attributes this to her two senior captains, Delana Cheney and Lynn Russell. “They do a great job making the gym a fun, friendly, supportive place to be. They make working hard, the thing to do. It's just expected,” said Davis
Davis herself was on the Harwood Gymnastics team from 1989-93. In 1990 Harwood was runner up; in 1991 and 1992 Harwood was state champions and second-place again in 1993. When the sport was reorganized into one division around 2000, however, Harwood had not finished at the top again, until last weekend.
Harwood had six gymnasts compete in all four events at the state meet. Two freshmen – Julia Biedermann and Janelle Hoskins – brought big numbers for the team. Biedermann placed 5th on vault with an 8.3, Davis said.
The team’s two sophomores were returning gymnast Olivia Bloom who “inspired her team all season with her hard work and never-give-up-attitude and set the pace for her team. Newcomer Kai McGrath put up huge numbers for the team, earning her 6th on beam with a 9.05, 4th on bars with an 8.8, and 3rd in all-around with a 34.4,” Davis reported.
The two seniors made solid contributions to the team scores as well, Davis said. Delana Cheney had a personal record high in her fourth state championship on the uneven bars with a 6.8.
Davis wasn’t kidding when she said the team had a strategy. Each gymnast choreographed multiple routines and much thought went into deciding who competed in specific events with specific moves aiming to maximize points and avoid deductions. She explained: “We had a strategy going into the meet. We wanted to find the best way to maximize our start values without compromising on deductions. The uneven bars can be one of the trickiest events to do this on: risk versus reward... In the end we took more risk on three routines and decided to play it safe on the other three. It seemed to be the right formula as we had our highest bar scores of the season. Beam, we worked cleaning up what we had and trying to go for the ‘stick’ rather than throw new skills. Floor was the other event we went for more risk. Having a spring floor at states allowed us to throw double-salto passes and three different types of saltos earning our athletes a 10.0 start value --something that is too difficult to do on a non-spring floor.”
A plus of having the meet moved this year to the Williston gym rather than Essex High School was the gym’s spring floor. Davis said she thinks that was a big factor in why the 2nd through 5th place teams were all within fewer than two points of each other.
“We were finally able to throw our hardest tumbling passes and it evened the playing field. Having a meet that close with so many positions on the line, is an excellent meet!” she said. “In years past we have had to water down floor routines because gymnasts were tumbling on carpet-bonded foam on a wood floor. We have had to balance getting what we could safely out of the gymnasts without risking injuring them. That means watering down their tumbling and taking a lower start value.”
Davis said she would like to see future state meets held at venues with spring floors. “I hope we are able to keep a spring floor in the state championships for the safety of the athletes, along with them being able to throw their best skills and not need to hold back in the meet where you should put in everything,” she said.
Katie Martin works as a youth behavior interventionist and an assistant HU Girls Hockey coach. She’s also a member of the Waterbury Select Board.
Special thanks to Paul Lamontagne at VtSportsImages.com.