New Milford's O'Connor shines at gymnastics invitational

SOUTHBURY -- With three first-place finishes and a pair of seconds, New Milford's Ashley O'Connor had just finished a championship performance at the Sixth Annual Pomperaug Gymnastics Invitational Saturday.

But O'Connor, the all-around winner with 36.50 points, was far happier with the Green Wave's team title than her individual efforts.

"I was so proud of everyone because we've been working for this for so long," said O'Connor. "We were just so excited because we know this is our year to do well. I think we'll get back in the gym and keep pushing and keep getting stronger."

New Milford won the team crown for the first time with 135.95 points to outdistance Darien (135.0), Nonnewaug (132.10) and fourth-place Pomperaug (130.40). Conard was fifth (130.05) and defending champion Staples finished sixth (122.00)

O'Connor, a senior headed to Yale in the fall, recorded firsts on the balance beam with a 9.4 score and in the floor exercise with a 9.3 She was second in vault and the uneven bars with 8.9 scores, even though her vault routine was cut back significantly, according to New Milford coach Bethany Mihaly.

"By the end of the day she had fallen on vault a little bit," Mihaly said. "It was the last event and she was tired with her knee surgeries and it was a little much."

O'Connor has undergone four knee surgeries over the last few years to address cartilage issues and took the summer off to rest the knees, leaving her less sharp on routines than she or her coach might expect.

"I was happy about my first two events (floor, beam) because I was really able to pull them out and be strong on them," said O'Connor. "But my vault I was just a little too tired and haven't practiced it enough this year.

"Bars is usually my best, but it wasn't my greatest today. I'm having trouble getting things back, but I'm working harder."

Added Mihaly: "It was about half as good as she can do."

New Milford also got a second-place tie in the all-around from sophomore Carla Hernandez, who, along with Darien's Morgan Whitehead, scored 34.70 points. Hernandez earned seconds in the vault, balance beam and the floor exercise.

"She performed very well today," said Mihaly. "She's a competitor."

New Milford's Colleen Menard added a sixth in the all-around, which included a second-place tie on the balance beam.

"We've never really had this depth before," said Mihaly. "It's exciting to have more people than I can put up."

Pomperaug was led by third-place finishes from Jessica Horn in the vault and Allison Mitchell, who tied in the floor exercise (with Menard).

Pomperaug coach Hal Rettstadt said he wasn't happy with finishing fourth.

"Not particularly," he said. "We have a lot of work to do, but we still have a very young team. The girls have worked very hard. They have to develop more confidence. I don't think they realize how good they are.

"We've got to to work harder to develop confidence to know they can get through their routine."

Rettstadt reserved special praise for senior co-captain Kimberly Ferrera, who placed fourth on the balance beam with an 8.45 score.

"She's shown a tremendous amount of courage," said Rettstadt. "She's working on a lot of tricks that you wouldn't expect someone of her training level to be accomplishing."

Also earning firsts were Darien's Morgan Whitehead on the bars with a 9.4 and Nonnewaug's Grace Cvancier with a 9.1 on the vault.

Oxford's Alyssa Pretka won the all-around with 32.20 points in Session Three (for gymnasts on teams without a full complement of performers). Newtown's Kathy Wiener, a senior who practices with Pomperaug, recorded a pair of wins (vault, 9.1; floor exercise, 9.0).

As for her overall performance, Wiener called it "very bipolar" with a sixth on the balance beam and fourth on the bars.

"I was OK with it," she said. "I did very well on floor and vault, but beam and bars were not so well."