First Meet of Season = New Section 2 Vault Record!
SARATOGA SPRINGS – While most of the varsity gymnasts from Saratoga, Shaker and Guilderland who competed in Sunday’s opening Suburban Council gymnastics meet were still fine tuning their routines, Saratoga’s Sophia Damiano (senior) was perfecting hers.
Damiano broke the Section II vault record on Sunday, January 3 with a score 9.65 besting the previous Section II vault record of 9.475 that Damiano shared with teammate Ava Dallas (senior).
Damiano’s record setting performance followed a strong finish to last year’s gymnastics season. Damiano was the Section II all-around champion (2019-2020) with a score of 37.350 which was the highest all around score at the Section II championship meet since 2006 and in the process she set two championship meet records (one on the vault (9.450) and the other on the beam (9.425)). Damiano also placed fifth in the vault at the end of season New York State Public High School Gymnastics Championships.
Sunday’s meet at World Class Gymnastics Academy (Latham) was a fundraiser for Hatsgiving, an organization that provides soft, warm hats for children who have lost their hair while battling cancer. There were no team scores tallied or individual awards given. Due to a recent pause with respect to in-class instruction, Bethlehem gymnastics was not able to participate in the fundraising meet.
Saratoga gymnastics returns to action on Friday, January 8th, with their first dual meet of the season against Shaker. Friday will be Senior Day celebrating the high school gymnastics career of Damiano, Dallas and fellow senior Megan Wishart.
