Garden Gators swing through state competition

SPARTA — Giant Gymnastics of Sparta’s Garden Gator Xcel team participated in the State championships in early May at Montclair High School in Upper Montclair.
All the gymnasts had to achieve qualifying scores at the sectional meet in Hackettstown in order to participate, and all should be commended for their efforts. This was a large competition, and many Gators shined throughout the weekend, whether they were earning high scores, beating personal records, or simply experiencing and getting through the difficulty of the weekend.
“It’s been quite an experience this year watching them grow as gymnasts and as teammates,” shared Giant’s Coach Margaret Witt of Newton. “Probably my favorite part of the weekend was hearing one of the older Silver gymnasts, who had competed already, cheering for Kate so loudly in the stands, and seeing Kate’s enormous smile as she heard her just before she did her best vault of the season. All of our gymnasts were nervous. That’s normal — what’s great is they support each other and that helped them perform their best all season at States.”
Kate Sutphen of Sparta earned 3rd place for her Floor routine, and 2nd place medal on uneven bars, and 3rd place All Around with a score of 37.075 for the Silver level 10 year old category. In the same age and level, Kacy Biddiscombe of Byram, NJ earned 4th place in Balance Beam and Floor, 5th place on Uneven Bars, and 5th place All Around with a 36.775.
For the Bronze level, ages 11 & up, Hannah Lounsbury, of Milford, Pa., took third place on Floor, 2nd on Vault and Beam, and 1st in Bars and All Around. Victoria Ciliberti, of Sparta, NJ, earned 3rd place for her Balance Beam routine for the 10 year old Bronze group.