RallyNorth.net

Sat, Mar 01, 2014 TBA @ TBA

Team	Final
North Andover	3
Andover	2
at TBA	0

Andover, Knights make New Englands

Andover took second and North Andover third at the state team gymnastics championships in Shrewsbury.

Team champion Barnstable, the Knights and the Golden Warriors qualified for New Englands on March 15 at Algonquin Regional.

 

Andover was the second seed while Barnstable, the top seed, repeated.

"Barnstable is really, really strong. We were happy with our selves," said Andover coach Tracy Vadala. "My top four really did well today (Courtney Carver, Jessive Livingston, rachel Cadet and Kaitlyn McDonald. This was huge for us."

The Knights were also fired up.

"We've never done this before," said eighth-year North andover coach Jenn Mangano.

She said she's confident no North Andover team has done it. 

"I talked to (former longtime coach) Brenda Shea," said Mangano, "and she said she never made it."

Mangano had a good feeling when in North Andover's second event, the always dangerous beam, the Knights came up big.

"When we competed on beam and the top four nailed it, I said, 'Oh, my God, we have a chance. Oh, my God, we have a chance. If you stay on beam you have a chance. And then you see all the other teams falling. We were completely stunned."

Junior Nicole Stevens, who placed second in the all-around at North Sectionals, got the ball rolling and Madeleine Shea, Julia Montecalvo and Kaitlyn Fotino also came through like champions.