Gymanstics prepped for big meet

The Darien gymnastics team heads into tomorrow's FCIAC championship in top form and rested.

Darien used its best gymnast, junior Morgan Whitehead, in only two events on Monday in a 134.9-123.35 victory at Greenwich. The Blue Wave raised their record to 9-0. Greenwich dropped to 5-4.

"They've definitely improved throughout the season and the more practice we get together we get better," Whitehead said.

Whitehead, who is resting for the FCIAC meet, tallied a 9.3 on vault and a 9.4 on floor exercise.

She is still nursing a back injury and competed in just the vault and floor events in hopes of keeping fresh for FCIACs. However, she did post the highest scores of the entire meet in both events. Whitehead posted the meet's top score with a 9.4 on her floor routine, in which she stuck a layout double twist. Her sukedhara on the vault netted the second highest score of the meet, a 9.3.

Whitehead and Charlotte Morgan led Darien with a dizzying display of acrobatics and elegant routines.

Morgan, a junior captain as well, had an all-around score of 35.3, which is her highest score of the season. Morgan scored identical 8.8s on vault, the uneven bars and the balance beam and an 8.9 on floor. The Blue Wave finished the meet with the top three all-around competitors.

Sophomores Katie Southworth and Katherine Mosher had all-around scores of 34.05 and 33.05, respectively. Southworth tallied an 8.7 on vault, 8.6 on floor, 8.45 on beam and 8.3 on bars. Mosher's highest output was on bars (8.6) and followed by vault (8.25). She scored identical 8.1s on beam and floor.

Freshman Lauren Medwid didn't compete because she's competing in a YMCA meet this week and regulations prohibit gymnasts from competing in more than two meets in a week.

Also competing for Darien were junior Elsa Imbimbo and sophomore Kiriko Masek with all-around scores of 29.1 and 27.6, respectively. Imbimbo did her best on floor (8.25) and vault (8.15), respectively and did OK on beam (6.7) and bars (6.0). Masek celebrated her Sweet 16 on Monday and did so in style with her best event being on vault (7.5), and followed by beam (7.0), bars (6.6) and floor (6.5).

"I'm very happy," Blue Wave coach Salina Tavella said. "They are doing fantastic and they are adding value to their routines. They perform clean routines and work on self-improvement and that's all I ask of them."

Darien enters the FCIAC championship at Westhill High School tomorrow at 4 p.m. as the top seed and for good reason.

The Blue Wave haven't lost a dual meet all year and they have the highest scoring average in the league. However, after what the favored Indianapolis Colts endured last Sunday in the Super Bowl, Tavella knows she can't take anything for granted.

"I expect my gymnasts to do their best," Tavella said. "I hope to win but I don't expect to win."

Greenwich junior Angie Wacek complied 32.45 all-around points to lead the Cardinals and place fourth. Alexis Gandal and Andrea Janis each netted 24.3 points to lead Weston.

Whitehead, a first-year tumbler, is confident in her team heading into FCIACs, but would feel more comfortable about herself if she could complete all her routines before Friday's championship.

"As a team I think were in good shape," she said. "I personally am getting through a back injury, so getting through my beam routine and bars routine would mean the world to me."

Greenwich continued its level of progress heading into FCIACs. The Cardinals, without senior captain Alex Mahoney (illness), got solid performances from its top four gymnasts -- Wacek, Jen Freda, Becci Reike and Jessie Kaplan.

"In general they had a good meet," Greenwich head coach Sue Knight said. "I know sometimes it's hard going against Darien. They stayed nice and calm and focused."

Freda, a senior, posted a career-best 8.5 on her floor routine, en route to 31.7 all-around points.

"She was just a little better at all her skills," Knight said. "Her full (on floor) was a little bit tighter, she had more amplitude."

Wacek, who received an 8.95 on floor, missed her career-high by a tenth of a point on a performance Knight termed, "her best floor routine all year."

For the second straight meet, the Cardinals struggled on the balance beam. Noting focus as part of the problem, Knight admitted beam was a point of emphasis in practices.

"Beam is beam. It's hard if you're not totally focused and it's a bad balance day," she said. "Sometimes you're off balance and you can't get it back together."

Even with the team's recent struggles on beam, Reike feels the Cardinals are prepared for the challenges at FCIACs.

"Skills wise we've really pushed ourselves and achieved what we needed to," the senior co-captain said.

The Blue Wave will be the favorite to take the FCIAC crown when the league's gymnasts convene on Westhill High School in Stamford on Friday at 4 p.m.

"Wilton's a potential threat," Morgan said. "We beat them by seven points in our meet, so we're hoping to win FCIACs."

-- David Fierro contributed to this article.