Oakland Catholic’s Madeleine Wingerter took home the all-around title at the WPIAL gymnastics championships Saturday at Moon. Thomas Jefferson, meanwhile, was crowned the team champion for the second year in a row.
Wingerter used three second-place finishes to claim the Advanced Division championship.
“I was really shocked,” Wingerter said, “but it feels really good.”
She scored a 9.4 on the balance beam, which she believed was her strongest event.
“I mean, I stuck my beam routine,” Wingerter said. “I’ve been struggling with that through practice, but it felt really good to finally stick it.”
Wingerter had the second-best score in her floor routine (9.45) and on the bars (9.178), the latter of which came as a surprise.
“That has really been a struggle,” she said. “(The bars are) my worst event, I would say … just my endurance. I mean, I’ve been getting tired mid-routine, but (I’ve) been working hard, so (I) pulled it out.”
Wingerter (37.145) bested Freeport’s Andie Ehalt (36.7), Central Valley’s Bria Zelesnik (36.605) and North Allegheny’s Hannah Seidl (36.5), Mt. Lebanon’s Meghan Dunn (36.292) and Burrell’s Syndaya Miller (36.225).
Defending champion Olivia Kovatch of Mt. Pleasant won the floor exercise with a score of 9.475. She ended up 12th in the all-around.
Ehalt won the bars (9.675),Zelesnik took gold in the beam (9.475) and Thomas Jefferson’s Adam Wilson was first in the vault (9.90).
Wingerter was Oakland Catholic’s lone representative at Saturday’s event, but she trains with a bigger group under coaches Jodie Cummings, Becky Revo and Kristen Weber.
Cummings, Revo and Weber direct a group of gymnasts from Baldwin, Thomas Jefferson, Oakland Catholic, Upper St. Clair, Bethel Park and Steel Valley. In addition to coaching the all-around champion, they also coached Thomas Jefferson to its second consecutive team title and fourth overall.
“These kids have put a lot of hard work in,” Cummings said. “It’s not been an easy road. This year we have a younger team, so we’ve had to put a lot of hard work in, and their hard work has proven that they are No. 1 two years in a row. It’s a big accomplishment.”
Said Weber, “The competition was really tough. We truly didn’t know if this was going to happen. And this was a moment to moment, and the girls rose to the occasion – and guys – and did what they needed to do. So we’re extremely proud.”
Some of the top individual performances from Thomas Jefferson included a first-place finish in the vault by Wilson and a fifth-place finish in the floor by Victoria Coughenour (9.1)
The Jaguars (142.209) edged out the regular season Section 1 and 2 champions Central Valley (140.887) and North Allegheny (140.525) on their way to their fourth title in the last eight years.
“We teach our kids, you know, to go into every meet with a good attitude, good head on your shoulders, and try to hit four for four,” Cummings said.
“And that’s what it all comes down to, is if you can hit four for four and keep your kids levelheaded, they can accomplish everything they need to do and stay focused.”