Two Mt. Hope High School athletes — sophomore Kara Pisasale and freshman Charlotte Piper — represented the Huskies in the 29th annual New England Gymnastics Championships set for Saturday, March 8, at the event's traditional home the Jonathan Law High School in Milford, Conn.

Pisasale, coming off her third-place finish all-around at states three weeks ago, competed in all four exercises: floor, beam, bars and vault, while Piper initially earned the opportunity to participate on vault, but was able to perform on beam and floor as well due to the absence of other Rhode Island entries in those two events.

"Kara and Charlotte did great. They hit their routines and performed really well," said Mt. Hope head coach Nicole Daniello. "They both stuck beam and nailed their floor routines and vaults. Kara added a front full to her floor routine, which is a higher level skill."

Pisasale, the Huskies' premier performer the last two winters, finished Saturday with an all-around total of 33.8 off scores of 9.1 on vault, 8.15 on beam, 8.0 on bars and 8.55 on floor.

And for Piper, who received scores of 8.125 on vault, 8.35 on beam and 8.7 on floor at the regional event gave a her chance to erase an unsatisfactory effort at states.

"I'd also like to say that this meet was pure redemption for Charlotte after her performance at states," said Daniello. "She competed a double full on floor, but tripped over the mat and had one fall on beam at states. Then at New Englands, she stuck her beam routine and performed her double full on floor flawlessly."

Of the pair together, Daniello added, "Courtney L’ Heureux (MHHS assistant coach) and I were so very proud of both of them. Just to qualify for the New England championship is such a big honor and achievement."

As for the team events, Newton North of Massachusetts won the New England championship with a total of 146.925. Trumbull, Conn., was second with 146.625 and another Massachusetts squad from Mansfield was third with 142.350. The three Rhode Island teams to qualify finished in places 8, 9 and 10 in the 12-team field as state champ La Salle earned 131 points, Portsmouth 130.45 and the Prout/Exeter-West Greenwich co-op 123.125.

Swimming

The Mt. Hope High School swim teams completed their 2024-25 season at the 2025 Rhode Island Interscholastic League state championships at Brown University two weeks ago.

One last item of note from states saw the Mt. Hope boys quartet of Finn Pansa, Cohen Ferreira, Sam Coles and Ben Coles set a new school record in the 200-yard free relay with a time of 1:38.12 to place sixth.

The same grouping also placed 10th in the 400 version of the free relay with a 3:48.04.

Wrestling

Unfortunately for the Mt. Hope High wrestlers, none of the Huskies qualified for last week's regional championships held at the Providence Career and Tech Academy Fieldhouse.

But the season isn't done for the locals, a number of whom are headed nationals set for March 28-30 in Virginia Beach, Va. Logan Sousa, Michael Bouchard, Arion Ferris, Bryce Brown, Eli Francis, Aidan Squatrito, Kyle McCarthy, Anthony Lombardi, LJ Pacheco and middle schooler Will Corrente are the locals headed to the event.

Also of note, former Mt. Hope standout and Warren native Andrew McCarthy, now prepping at New York Military Academy, is headed to nationals as well and will represent Rhode Island through the local club run by Mt. Hope coaches Ryan Fazzi and Brad Oliver, East Bay Wrestling Wolfpack.