"Junior Trio" leads Mt. Hope girls gymnastics to third straight D-II state championship

Story and Photos by Richard W Dionne Jr
Posted 2/18/18

PROVIDENCE — The “Junior Trio” of Meghan Oliver, Jayme Foreman and Kaitlin Quinn lead the Huskies to their third straight Division II state title at the RIIL Gymnastics Championships at RIC on …

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"Junior Trio" leads Mt. Hope girls gymnastics to third straight D-II state championship

Posted

PROVIDENCE — The “Junior Trio” of Meghan Oliver, Jayme Foreman and Kaitlin Quinn lead the Huskies to their third straight Division II state title at the RIIL Gymnastics Championships at RIC on Saturday afternoon.

Mt. Hope scored a 139.275 to with the Division II state crown over West Warwick (131.50) and Portsmouth (126.650). Division I LaSalle scored a 140.55 edging out the Huskies for best team score at the state meet.

“This is one of our top scores throughout our whole gymnastics career. Winning one year is great, but winning three years in a row is crazy,” said senior co-captain Ashley Heald. “We got the best score that we achieved all season. We beat our score from last year and it feels great,” said senior co-captain Brianna Gendreau.

Meghan Oliver performed brilliantly, placing third in the state with an all around score of 36.650, with a 9.25 on vault, an 8.75 on bars, a 9.50 on beam and a 9.15 on floor. She placed in the top 6 in the state in all four events, highlighted by two third place finishes in vault and beam.

“I think we performed well, but I feel that we all can improve on our scores. I want to improve a lot more and come back next year and take it (the all around championship),” said Oliver, adding, “Next year the Junior Trio is moving on to Senior Trio. We are going to work hard and come back a lot stronger and beat Division I Lasalle.”

“Meghan had a solid meet. She did so great. She added two new moves to her bar routine. She hit and was rewarded with a good score, an 8.75, her best all season. On beam, she nailed it. The best routine that she has ever done. She scored a 9.5. She did a beautiful job. I was really proud of her,” said Head Coach Nicole Daniello.

Kaitlin Quinn had her strongest meet of the season. She placed sixth in the state with an all around score of 35.150, with an 8.7 on vault, an 8.3 on bars, an 8.8 on beam and 9.35 on floor. She placed second in the state for her performance on floor.

“Kaitlin had one fall on beam, but still scored an 8.8. She performed beautifully on floor. She added a more difficult move to her second tumbling pass and she nailed it and placed second in the state,” said coach Daniello.

Jayme Foreman placed ninth in the state with an all around score of 34.100, with an 8.75 on vault, an 8.0 on bars, an 8.45 on beam and an 8.9 on floor. She placed sixth in the state for her performance on vault.

“Over all I felt like I performed okay. I fell on bars. I performed well on vault. I got all the way around. On fell on beam, but I did a pretty solid job. I stuck my series and back tuck. On floor, I tumbled out of bounds, but had a pretty solid routine,” Foreman said.

Coach Daniello added, “Jayme was a little disappointed because she fell on bars and she fell on beam. I thought she was amazing when she got back on bars. She finished strong and scored an 8.0 and we needed that. On beam, she fell on a full turn. She got back on and nailed her back tuck and her back handspring full. Both are very difficult to perform and I was so proud of her for that. But the two falls kept her out of the top six.”

Huskies seniors and captains Ashley Heald and Brianna Gendreau kept the team upbeat and focused as well as contributing to the team’s over all score.

“Our seniors are great leaders. They handle adversity really well. They lift the team up when there is a fall. They remind the team that it’s important to finish strong and feel good about themselves,” said coach Daniello.

Heald competed in three events scoring an 8.1 on vault, 7.3 on bars and an 8.4 on beam. Gendreau scored an 8.3 on vault.

“Ashely came through on beam. The team needed that score. Brianna performed well on vault. She tried a half full and they rewarded her with an 8.35,” said the coach.

“It was a really long season. We can’t always make all of the practices. Some of us work, perform club gymnastics, but at the end of the day we always pulled through and worked together and we always got that W,” said Heald.

Gendreau is a Huskies five-time state champion, helping the girls softball team win two state championships as the team’s catcher and one of their best sluggers. “Having five (championships) feels so great. It feels good to finish the season off. Especially being seniors,” Gendreau said.

Samantha Denson scored an 8.05 on vault and an 8.275 on floor. Olivia Fedrico scored an 8.2 on floor. Kara Lawrence scored a 7.0 on bars. Grace Silva scored a 6.55 on beam. Molly Thibaudeau scored an 8.0 on bars and a 7.15 on beam. Marissa Grenier scored an 8.575 on floor.

“I’m very proud of the team. They stuck all of their floor routines. They picked the best meet to peak. They all performed really well. They did a beautiful, beautiful job. The best all season,” said coach Daniello.

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