For years the Aurora Greenmen gymnastics program has been bolstered by individual performers but lacked depth. This year, Aurora assembled one of its most complete teams and it showed when it took second place by scoring 139.45 points at the Suburban League Championship last Saturday at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School.
“We were obviously hoping for the best, but we did not know what our full potential could really be until we got there and we had a great meet and it was a complete team effort,” said Coach Gina Javorek. “It was on everyone, and it takes everyone to get to that level and I am just very pleased with how we finished and how the girls performed.”
The Greenmen will attempt to carry their success from their final meet of the regular season into the postseason when they compete at the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I district meet at the Berea-Midpark Middle School Sports Center on Saturday in the evening session beginning at 6:15 p.m.
“It just sets up us confidence-wise,” noted the six-year coach. “We just did the district pairings on Sunday to know who we were going to go against next Saturday. It will be a really tough competition, but three teams advance on Saturday, so we have to be in those top three teams to make it to the state meet.”
Last Saturday, the Greenmen showed how far they have come as a team with their best performance at the Suburban League meet in school history. Having always relied on individual performers, Aurora showed its depth by having six gymnasts compete in each of the four categories.
In each category, Aurora’s team score was determined by the top four individual scores and then all four team scores were added to make up their overall team score.
According to Javorek, the Suburban League is one of the deepest conferences in gymnastics not just because it is home to Division I powerhouse Brecksville-Broadview Heights, who have been the state champions for 21 consecutive years, but also because four teams received top ten seeds in the postseason.
“There is a lot of depth,” she added. “Not only do they have a lot of teams but second, third and fourth were only a few 1/10ths away from each other. There are a lot of really talented athletes in the Suburban League that will stand out and qualify for the state meet guaranteed so that is where it poses a challenge for the girls to place individually.”
In the vault event the Greeenmen scored 35.55 points, paced by senior Hannah Salgado, who placed second with a 9.5, followed by junior Carolyn Jakosh who scored an 8.85, senior Kailtin Zgonc received an 8.65 and sophomore Riley Verespej earned 8.55 points.
In the bars event, Aurora collected 34.35 points paced by Salgado, who once again finished as the runner-up with 9.0 points, followed by Verespej who tallied an 8.70, Zgonc earned a score of 8.35, and senior Gracelyn Johnson was awarded an 8.30.
In the beam evebt, the Greenmen scored 35.20 points with Salgado finishing in first place with a 9.30, Verespej received a score of 8.85, Fry earned 8.70 and Zgonc scored an 8.35.
“When we hit beam, beam is probably our strongest,” Javorek said. “The toughest is probably bars but you would have be the most consistent on beam.”
In the floor routine, Aurora tallied 34.35 points with Salgado being its high scorer with 9.0 points, Fry scored an 8.65, and Verespej and Zgonc each tallied 8.35.
Salgado capped off her big day by finishing in first place as an individual with 36.80 points to be named the Suburban League all-around champion and was recognized as Suburban League Gymnast of the Year.
“She’s been competing forever, and she has been a gymnast for so long and that is how the sport goes,” noted Javorek. “You can’t just pick up a basketball and shoot and be good at it. That is not how gymnastics goes, you have to train for years and years. She has put in the time and has been training since she was a little girl. You need to have that athleticism as well and need to have that component and she has that for sure.”
For Javorek, the second-place finish by her squad was a culmination of of the hard work that Aurora has put in over the last several years to build a team and not just have a few individuals represent the program in the postseason.
With a conference runner-up finish, Aurora’s next goal is to advance as a team to the state tournament in a loaded district, with several other top seeded teams competing in their district.
