Coming off of last season’s success, the Blue Devils had a lot to live up to. Led by senior captains Betheny Swartz, Vendela Surgent and Dylan Zuckerman, the team finished 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the Union County Conference.
With seven seniors, a lot of Westfield’s success can be attributed to the wisdom of the older gymnasts. On the Blue Devil’s Senior Day, they honored their seven seniors who have contributed to the team since their freshman year. Facing Union at home, Westfield took a 104.7-88.1 win against the Farmers.
This senior class is the first that head coach Jenna Zito has been able to coach and work with throughout all four years of high school gymnastics. Zito said, “It’s a special group. I have gotten to see how they [the senior class] have grown and see how they’ve transformed into leaders.”
As Zito mentioned, the seniors helped to run the team dynamic. Surgent commented on this, saying “as a senior, I think it’s important to be a good role model to the girls and try to constantly keep the hype and motivation up. Before meets I texted all the girls to make sure they were motivated and ready to kill it at the meet the next day. During meets, you will always see us cheering and dancing to the music. We still make sure we are focused during meets but by doing this we support each other and want to do the best we possibly can in our meets.”
Support and team unity comes from all athletes on the team, even those who are not competing. “There are more rolls that are not just competing,” Swartz said. “We need people to take scores. We need people to flash the scores, move the mats. We include everyone, make sure everyone feels important.”
Westfields biggest rival is Scotch Plains-Fanwood. The rivalry did not disappoint, with the tension between these two teams remaining as strong as ever throughout this season. In a rowdy dual meet, Westfield took down SPF 108.6 to 107.9, taking down SPF by less than a point. According to Surgent, this victory was one of the team’s highlights: “We worked so hard and beating them was a huge accomplishment because we didn’t last year. It wasn’t our personal best meet but we made it work and I was so proud of all the girls.”
Additionally, Westfield had a great performance in the Cougar Invitational, an annual meet where teams from around all compete against each other at Cranford. The Blue Devils scored a season high team score of 108.7, landing them in third place in the competition. Senior Shannon Gibbs was a huge factor to the team’s success. Gibbs set an invitational record of 9.5 on uneven bars and she would go on to take 2nd in the all-around, scoring a 37.375.
The North 2, Group 4 sectional championship meet at St. Thomas Aquinas marked the end of Westfield’s season. Surgent said, “I love competing at St. Thomas Aquinas they have great equipment and it is such a fun atmosphere because so many of the girls there all go to Surgent’s so it basically is like cheering from your teammates at our club gym. We knew there was a good chance this was our last meet as a team, so we enjoyed it just cheering and having a blast together.”
With dominating performances from Gibbs and Surgent that placed them in the top six for their respective events, they both qualified to continue their individual seasons for the NJ Individual State Championship on Nov. 11. At this meet, Gibbs qualified for the all-around, scoring first all-around in the NJ state qualifier with a score of 36.175. Surgent qualified on the beam, scoring 9.25 on her performance in the sectional meet.
Reflecting on this season, Zito said, “We had some ups and downs and we didn’t have our best performance at counties, but I was really proud of the way they bounced back at sectionals. I think overall we ended this season on a high note.”
At the individual championship meet, Surgent excelled on her balance beam routine, scoring 8.85 and Gibbs scored an impressive 36.175 in the all-around.
Although their Westfield season has come to an end, these girls have not yet finished their gymnastic careers. With everyone on the team also participating in club gymnastics at Surgent’s Elite School of Gymnastics, these girls still have many more memories to make. However, Westfield offers a special, indescribable bond. Swartz said, “Club Gymnastics is a very individual sport, and Westfield is more of a team. Although we all do Surgents together, I get to see people I don’t always see. I love hanging out with these girls so much, I’m going to miss them next year.”
With the large senior class leaving the team, Westfield will work to keep their success in the coming seasons. Zito said she is “excited to hopefully get some newcomers in.” There is also a possibility that the upcoming team “could be a much smaller team than we are used to,” according to Zito. “While that can be tough, it could make for a closer group of girls.”
