Vaimberg leads Lady Wreckers

Staples gymnastics senior captain Emma Vaimberg couldn't have asked for a better ending. Vaimberg was the top all-around performer and top scorer in two events on Tuesday at Weston Middle School (Staples has its home meets there) in her last career home meet, leading the Lady Wreckers to 121.7 points and a split decision, losing to Fairfield Ludlowe (127) but beating Fairfield Warde (113.3). Ludlowe raised its record to 6-5, Warde dropped to 4-7 and Staples moved to 2-7.

"I thought it was awesome and I had a good time," Lady Wreckers Coach Melissa Zigmont said. "I enjoyed competing against Ludlowe and Warde because Ludlowe's head coach [Kim Longobucco] is Emma's club coach and it's good for her to have both of her coaches here. Emma had a great meet today."

Vaimberg had an all-around score of 33.75.

"It feels really good and it was so much fun," Vaimberg said. "It's sad but I have a few meets left. It was a nice senior night and I focused on having fun. I didn't worry about my score."

Floor exercise was her best routine where she tallied an 8.8 and won the event. She stuck her back handsprings, front handspring, back layout and back tuck and performed gracefully on her last event ever at WMS.

"I love competing on floor and it was Senior Night and I thought about having fun," Vaimberg said. "I wanted to go out with a bang."

Balance beam was her second best score (8.5) and she won that event as well. She remained poised on the beam and had perfect balance.

"I concentrated on staying tight," Vaimberg said.

Vaimberg finished second overall on vault (8.25) and on the uneven bars (8.2). She stuck her half on, full off, vault, and on bars, she performed a crisp routine.

"I just did what I always do on vault," Vaimberg said. "I always have to try hard on bars because it's tough for me but I did better today because of the motivation of Senior Night and I wanted to do better on my special night."

Staples did its best on vault (31.85) and was also solid on floor (31.65) and beam (31). The Lady Wreckers hope to raise their bar score (27.2) in the postseason meets.

Junior assistant captain Zoe Heller had an all-around score of 30.05.

"I think I did well on different events," Heller said. "I could have done better on bars and I will work on it in practice. I did well on floor and vault."

Heller performed ably on floor (8.2) and finished third overall. She was superb in her dance moves and stuck her back handsprings, front handspring and back tuck.

"I wanted to end the meet on a good note," Heller said.

She placed sixth on vault (8.05) by sticking a half on, full off and took fifth on beam (7.7). On bars, she scored a 6.1.

"It was the beginning of the meet and I wanted to start off well," Heller said.

Junior assistant captain Kara Tricarico had an all-around score of 29.3. Tricarico's best score was vault (8.0) but her highest placements were on floor (7.3) and bars (7.0). She tallied a 7.0 on beam.

"I thought the meet went well and I tried my hardest and it paid off," Tricarico said. "I just got my new vault, a half on, full off, and that helped. I've been working hard at practice."

Normally, sophomore Emily Fishman competes as an all-around but was scratch from floor because of her back. Fishman placed fourth on beam (7.8) and competed on vault (7.55) and bars (5.9). Sophomore Michelle Elsas took fifth on floor (7.35) and competed on vault (6.85) and bars (5.1). Fellow sophomores Katie Blumenfeld (6.9, floor; 5.4, beam; and 4.9, bars) and Morgan Cravenho (7.25, vault; 6.0, beam) also competed.