By JOSEPH KELLARD
The Oceanside gymnast¹s tears were borne neither of joy nor sadness over her team placing second in the Nassau County Gymnastics Team Championships last week at their school. Rather, she was overcome by sentimentality when the reality hit that the highlight of her high school career was suddenly over.
³I¹m very glad that I was part of this team and I¹m really upset that it¹s over,² the red-eyed Wilensky said, her voice breaking a bit after she hugged her teammates, who asked why she was crying. Bethpage-Plainview won its ninth consecutive county title with a score of 174.65 to Oceanside¹s 169.525.
Wilensky was nevertheless happy that she and her multi-record-breaking team, which posted the school¹s highest total in championship competition, took second after coming in sixth at last year¹s county meet. ³We wanted to come in first, but second is good and we learned a lot and enjoyed this season so much,² Wilensky said.
Hosting the championship for the first time in many years, Oceanside finished ahead of Massapequa (163.050), Sewanhaka (161.025), South Side (153.10), Wantagh (146.350), Lawrence (142.000) and Cold Spring Harbor (133.225) at the Feb. 13 meet.
³A 169 in a county championship, that¹s a record score and pretty impressive, especially when tonight we were weakest in the event we were best at all year,² said Oceanside coach Andy Morris about his team¹s efforts on the bars.
Junior Erin Senior, who had the best all-around score (36.575), mishandled a transitional swing on the high bar, freshman Tara Wischerth lost her balance while standing on the low bar and Wilensky¹s feet hit the floor on a swing.
³At the beginning of the meet, all of us were shaking on the bars a little bit,² Wilensky noted.
Next, on beam, while Wilensky and senior Megan Silverstein fell on back flips, both Senior and freshman Diana Tolaj performed steady successive flips and showed good balance on their twirls, as Senior twirled in mid-air on her landing to wrap up her 9.3 routine.
³They just bounced back and were tough on beam,² said Morris, who was gunning for his seventh county championship since becoming Oceanside¹s gymnastics coach 25 years ago, and his first since 1993.
After bars and beam, the Lady Sailors were under a bit of pressure, finding themselves in fifth place. ³I said to my assistant coach, Megan Mooney, we do sports to test ourselves to see how we do when times get tough,² Morris continued. ³On floor and vault they basically did everything they had to do. That¹s as good as we¹ve been all year.²
On vault, Oceanside¹s last event, Wilensky had two virtually identical vaults that featured extra flips and solid landings. Senior, too, managed double flips, but backpedaled on her landings. Tolaj, who earned Oceanside¹s second highest score (34.975), knifed through the air with straight, flawless form and earned a 9.10 high score.
If Oceanside¹s faithful hungered for style, Tolaj fed it to them on the floor exercise. Her graceful hand gestures and jutting shoulder and hip moves synchronized well with the Spanish guitar music during her 9.15 routine. Wischerth kicked off Oceanside¹s floor routine with several flips on her first run, Silverstein did a walking handstand to earn extra points and freshman Paige McCarthy darted aggressively across the mat and did some twirling flips.
Senior flowed seamlessly from one movement to the next throughout her team-high 9.22 routine, but such precision on floor was characteristic of the Bethpage-Plainview gymnasts. Senior Brittany Hervey, who finished with a 32.275 in the all-around, earned a 9.3 for her team.
³They were fired up after beam, so they took that momentum right into floor,² Bethpage-Plainview coach Kim Rhatigan-Drexler said about her undefeated squad.
On beam, Bethpage-Plainview junior Cristina Speirs added 9.475 points to her all-around score, second best behind Senior¹s, followed by freshman Danielle Sadick with a 9.425 balancing act. Neither Speirs, Sadick nor any of their fellow gymnasts fell on the exercise, a goal Rhatigan-Drexler had set for them all season, with the promise of a meal at a certain chain restaurant if they succeeded. Finally, they met her expectations at the most opportune event.
³I said to the kids all season, no falls on beams and we¹ll go to Applebee¹s,² she said. ³And they did it tonight. Six for six with no falls.²
Rhatigan-Drexler began coaching gymnastics at Bethpage in 1988-89. Heading into last week¹s meet with eight championship seasons under her belt, she said her ninth was by far her hardest because of a particular team. ³I mean Oceanside, they had it,² she said. ³They were behind us the entire season. I could barely sleep last night.²
This season, Morris¹s squad earned the five highest scores in Oceanside history, breaking the school record in three consecutive meets. First, against Sewanhaka, Oceanside scored 163.9 to surpass OHS¹s previous high of 163.4 set in 2004. At their following meet, the Lady Sailors topped this mark with a 167.9 in a win against Carle Place, and Senior broke Oceanside¹s all-around record with a 36.8. Next, at Massapequa, the Sailors racked up 170.3 points.
Then, the Lady Sailors hosted Bethpage-Plainview, and again scored in the 170s, but fell short of setting another record and lost 171.05 to 170.1. In the season finale, they scored a 167 against Wantagh, and nearly scored another 170 at last week¹s counties.
³Without a doubt, this is the best group of kids we¹ve ever had in terms of athleticism,² Morris said.
³We expected to come in first because we all worked so hard,² said McCarthy, who totaled 33.575 in the all-around, the third best for Oceanside. ³I think we should have gotten higher, but I think we all did good.²
Asked what she learned most about being on this squad, McCarthy simply said ³teamwork.² What are her expectations for next year? ³I think we¹ll be just as good,² she said. ³We¹re going to have other girls come in, but all these team girls were amazing and I love them.²
One teammate who won¹t be coming back is Wilensky, who hopes to compete with a Division III team or club team in college next year. ³I hope they do really well,² said the teary-eyed senior, who characterized her teammates as tight-knit, helpful and supportive. ³They¹ll have a lot of talented girls for next year and I¹ll be back to watch the competition.²
