WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High gymnastics team celebrated their seniors on Feb. 6 with a 126.25-89.35 victory over Peabody, the second win in a row for Wakefield who also topped Woburn 127.25-121.5 on Jan. 31.
The Warriors celebrated their seven seniors before the meet: Lucy Cremin, Nicole Dowd, Mia Rich (Capt.), Ali Strongosky, Cheyenne Toppi (Capt.), Morgan Veit (Capt.) and Remi Mayo.
As they have all season, Rich (33.85) and Toppi (33.1) performed in all-around and led the way for Wakefield, each breaking an all-around score of 33.
“Mia and Cheyenne were with us in our pandemic season, watching from home on Zoom when they weren’t in the lineup or competing without fans in the stands for the sake of our team,” said head coach Meg Delory of the two four-year members of the team. “They’ve come so far and grown so much.”
Rich took first on floor (8.8), beam (8.6) and bars (8.3) on senior night.
“Mia overcame a serious injury her sophomore season and returned stronger than ever for an epic senior season, carrying our team to more wins than anticipated this year,” said Delory. “I believe her routines are worthy of recognition at State Individual Championships, so we’re hoping she qualifies amongst a very competitive statewide pool of gymnasts.”
THE WAKEFIELD High gymnastics seniors were honored before their victory over Peabody on Feb. 6. Pictured from left to right with their families are seniors Mia Rich, Nicole Dowd, Cheyenne Toppi, Lucy Cremin, Ali Strongosky, Morgan Veit and Remi Mayo. (Courtesy Photo)
Toppi took first on vault with an 8.6 and followed that up with second place finishes on floor (8.7), beam (7.9) and bars (7.9).
“Cheyenne’s gymnastics skills are remarkable especially considering she attended our youth clinics as a middle school student with a goal of perfecting her standing backhand spring. Today, she can do that skill on the beam,” said Delory. “She has also learned many other impressive skills that result in higher start values for our team. For example, Cheyenne is among a handful of athletes in our league who are able to flip a vault.”
That vault success has allowed the Warriors to start strong throughout the season and they did again on Senior Night as Liv Wall (8.2), Rich (8.15) and Cara Carangelo (8) concluded the scoring to stake the Warriors to a 32.95-23.85 lead after the first event.
Dowd got a 7.8 on vault. She also had strong routines on beam (7.1) and floor. Strongosky competed well on floor and Cremin on bars.
“Lucy Cremin, Ali Strongosky, and Nicole Dowd are newer to the high school gymnastics team but quite familiar with leadership as student-athletes,” said Delory. “Lucy and Ali were two-year cheer captains and Nicole is set to captain the softball team this season. Lucy and Ali joined the team as juniors and have generously set the tone for maximum effort at practices and meets as floor and vault specialists. Lucy competed consistently as a junior but was injured this year and Ali stepped in as a senior to fill that important spot in our floor lineup. Nicole joined as a senior and regained skills that made her eligible for the varsity lineups on vault, beam, and floor. I can’t overstate how challenging it is to pull that off, but Nicole made it look easy.”
Getting third and fourth on bars for Wakefield was Carangelo (6.7) and Kyler Dennison (6.5).
Third and fourth on beam belonged to Wall (7.8) and Danielle McCauley (7.3).
Once again, following Rich and Toppi on floor was Tori Grace (8) and Carangelo (6.8).
The Warriors also honored captain Veit and Mayo, managers who have dedicated a lot to the program, earning plenty of praise from their coach.
“Remi Mayo was a team member as a freshman during our pandemic season and committed to supporting the team in manager duties on meet days for her sophomore, junior, and senior years.
“Morgan Veit joined the team as a sophomore but really discovered her strengths as an organized, efficient team manager as a junior. From a coach’s perspective, it is so important to be able to trust and rely on your manager for scorekeeping and smooth facilitation of each meet. Morgan did such a phenomenal job as a junior that it earned her captaincy as a senior. She continued that tradition of organization and efficiency this year and has carefully coached underclassmen who might soon inherit the role.”
In the end, it was the perfect way to celebrate a terrific class that has worked hard to help Wakefield gymnastics continue their improvements over the years.
Wakefield’s win over Woburn had a final score of 127.25-121.5.
Rich hit a 34 on all-around while Toppi scored 33.25.
Toppi was first on vault (8.85) and bars (8) and second on beam (8.1) and floor (8.3).
Rich was first on floor (8.9) and beam (9) and second on bars (7.8) and vault (8.3).
Wall (8.25) and Carangelo (8) finished the scoring on vault while Carangelo (7.2) and Sophia Tulipani (7) finished it up on bars to give Wakefield a 63.4-59.7 lead after two events.
The Warriors finished strong on beam and floor as McCauley (7.25) and Tulipani (7.2) rounded out the scoring on beam while Wall (7.7) and Carangelo (7.4) closed it on floor.
The Warriors finished their regular season on Friday with another win, this time over Stoneham, finishing the season with a three-meet winning streak to go 5-6 overall. They went 4-2 in their final six meets. Wakefield competed at leagues yesterday. Full stories of those meets will appear at a later date.
