Arcury sisters lead South into sectionals
Girls gymnastics
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Seventh-grader Jill Daddario is one of Sweet Home's top gymnasts. Pictured is her highest vault of the season, an 8.35 against Williamsville East and Orchard Park on Oct. 22. Daddario will compete in all-around at the Section VI Championships on Saturday. Photo by John Rusac Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Williamsville South finished 3-3 in regular season meets but tenths of a point separated them from a 5-1 record.

Fourteen falls cost South a tri-meet with Frontier, 163.35-162.50, and Hamburg, 162.8-162.50, on Nov. 9.

"If we didn't have a couple of falls, our record could have been a lot different," said co-coach Kurt Stumpf.

South also beat Williamsville North, 157.45-149.05; Lewiston Porter, 157.45-86.20; and Clarence, 164.55-150.85. They lost to Lancaster, 169.15-164.55.

Seven of South's gymnasts are competing in Saturday's Section VI Championships at 2 p.m. at Williamsville South High School.

Kristina and Kailyn Arcury and Rachel Utech are going in all-around; Sarah Steffan and Michaela Stumpf will compete on uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise; and Christina Haffa and Cassidy Strong will be there on vault.

Kristina Arcury, a junior, a favorite to win the Section VI all-around title, has the best beam (9.60) uneven bars (9.50) and all-around (37.45) scores in the section this season. She's also in the top in vault (9.05) and floor (9.30).

Eighth-grader Kailyn Arcury is in the top ten on vault (9), uneven bars (9.05), beam (9.10), and floor (9). She's also fourth in the section in all-around with a score of 35.85.

"Kristina has a good shot at winning the all-around title and Kailyn could be in the top four," said coach Stumpf. "A lot of the kids who were towards the top in all-around from last year graduated, plus both have gotten better."

Kristina Arcury is the defending New York State champion on beam; she won the section all-around title in 2004.

Sweet Home

Sweet Home coach Dianne Weinert thought her team would do well dropping from Division I to Division II, but reasons out of her control have resulted in a 3-4 record.

"We could have done better but we've had deaths in the family, injuries and disciplinary measures so meets where I thought we could win, I'll lose by a small margin and I'll know it's because I have certain girls out of meets which I intended to have in there," said Weinert.

Sweet Home's wins have come over Maryvale (131.8-115.05) and Kenmore East (131.8-113.45) in a tri-meet on Oct. 10, and Jamestown, 124.9-119.9, in a tri-meet with Amherst on Oct. 12. The Lady Panthers lost to Amherst by 1.35 points, 131.8-124.9.

Sweet Home is 4-7 overall with a 120.05-91.1 win over Lew-Port in a scrimmage. They've lost to Orchard Park and Amherst twice and Williamsville South, Williamsville East and Frontier.

Seventh-graders Jill Daddario and Lydia Penberthy have led the Lady Panthers all season.

Daddario's highest vault has been an 8.35 against East and OP, her best uneven bars routine was a 7.8 against Lancaster and Lew-Port. Both were team-bests at the meets. She also had team-bests on balance beam (8.0) and floor exercise (8.0).

Penberthy's top vault score was an 8.4 against Jamestown and Amherst. In other meets, she had a 7.0 on bars and a 7.55 on beam.

Both will compete at sectionals - Daddario in all-around, Penberthy on beam, vault and bars. Both still attend Gleason's Gymnastics.

"They do compete a lot at club levels so they will be used to the sectional climate," said Weinert. "Because of their work in club, they each could have good days."

Teammates who have scored well in meets are eighth-grader Carissa Turner (7.3 on beam; 7.8 on floor) and junior Juliana Ruiz (7.35 on floor).

The boys on the girls' team are also improving. Freshman Matt Rao posted an 8.2 on vault against East and OP and has hit a 5.5 on bars.

Seventh grader Justin Sullivan reached 7.3 on bars against OP and Frontier and has had a 4.9 on bars. Senior Ryan Bluestein competed on vault for the first time last week, competing on vault.

Amherst Central

More gymnasts equaled more points and a better record than in recent years for Amherst Central.

The Lady Tigers fielded 11 gymnasts, twice as many as last year's team, and finished 3-4 in ECIC Division II, beating Sweet Home, Maryvale and Jamestown. Amherst was above 100 points in each meet; its highest team point total was 129.5.

"We took a couple wins; the girls were pleased with that," said Amherst coach Marcy Reynard.

Senior Dana Ruh and sophomore Annalise Polvino scored most of the Tigers' points. Each averaged around 32 in all-around competition with Ruh holding a slight edge. Both will compete at sectionals; senior Jordan Pescrillo also qualified for sectionals on vault and beam but is injured and won't compete.

Sophomore Kelsey Battaglia and seventh grader Claire Whalen posted scores of 6.9 on vault at last Saturday's Halloween Invitational. Senior Taylor Manahan, junior Danielle Chiz, sophomore Olivia Dann and freshman Emily Hess also competed.

Williamsville North

Several North gymnasts fared well at the Halloween Invitational last Saturday at Hamburg High School.

Captain Sarah Carbrey was second in all-around with a score of 28.30. She was fifth on vault (7.55), bars (6.40), and floor (7.50). She also had a 6.85 on beam.

Teammates Sarah Mikulski, Amber Moster and Demi Zenos went fourth, fifth and sixth in all-around.

Mikulski came in third in vault (7.75) and fourth on beam (7.8) and ninth on floor (7.0). Moser was second in vault (7.8), third in bars (6.9) and ninth on floor (7.60). Zenos had an all-around score of 26.20.

Other individual scores came from Jen Apter (6.8, beam; 6.50, floor); Kate Barone (4.85, beam; 4.80, floor); Rachel Baudanza (5.0, vault); Daniela Guzman (6.0, vault); Amber Hammonds (5.50, floor); Emily Joyce (6.80, vault); Avery Kretschman (5.35, beam; 4.90, floor); Kayla Kruger (6.30, vault); Alyssa Lanoye (6.05, beam; 4.40, floor); Brianna Lanoye (6.0, beam); Kaitlin Lunney (4.85, beam); Amanda Sheriff (6.10, vault; 2.50, bars); and Tory Trzyna (6.50, vault; 4.60, floor).

"All of the girls did a terrific job," said North coach Sharon Hirsch. "We were really pleased with the results."

Williamsville East

The Lady Flames are young but improving.

East finished the regular season with a 5-3 record in Division II, 10-7 overall.

"The team worked very hard to improve and had a much higher level of overall consistency then in previous years," said East coach Sarah Pici. "We still have a young team. Three seniors (Alyssa Engel, Megan Krol, Rosie McAfee) will be leaving and they will be missed. We have five eighth-graders (Kristen Kelly, Ashley Materise, Emily Rosen, Alexandra Shilen and Danielle Silvestri) on the team so hopeful- ly we can continue to build up our team next year from this strong group of girls."

Kelly, Materise and Krol have qualified for sectionals. It's Kelly's and Materise's second time qualifying; Krol's first.

Kelly is going in all-around, Materise will compete on vault and bars and Krol will be on balance beam and floor exercise. Krol was .05 of a point short of qualifying for sectionals on vault and uneven bars.

Pici said sophomore Shanelle Raugh and Krol are the team's most improve gymnasts.

"Shanelle Raugh improved on balance beam and was an asset to the team while competing in most of the meets," said Pici. "Megan Krol improved on each event and worked hard adding new skills all season."

At last Saturday's Halloween Invitational, Silvestri competed in all-around and won floor exercise. Rosen (all-around), McAfee (bars), Raugh (beam), Shilen (vault, bars, beam) and Engel (beam) also competed.

East's highest team score during the regular season was 135.4.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com