Thomas Jefferson, Galioto celebrate WPIAL gymnastics titles

By: Ray Fisher
Saturday, February 23, 2019 | 9:38 AM

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All they do is win.

You name it. They’ve won it.

In just three years, Thomas Jefferson has emerged as a powerhouse in girls gymnastics.

TJ captured its third consecutive section title this season, and the Jaguars were undefeated all three years.

And as a prelude to the WPIAL championships, the TJ girls took first place at the St. Mary’s Invitational.

Natalio Galioto and the TJ gymnasts capped their WPIAL season Feb. 16-17 with two more championships.

The Jaguars took first place in the team competition at Moon with 146.375 points. A day later, Galioto won the advanced division all-around individual title, again at Moon.

“What a weekend it was,” coach Jodi Cummings said. “The girls had a fantastic weekend of gymnastics. TJ did what they had to do to capture the title, and that was just compete how they have been practicing. We’ve been working hard on consistency and maxing our start values in our routines.

“Going into Friday’s meet, I told the girls to just do what they knew how to do and they did just that. We had solid vaults and bar routines and were pretty solid on beam. That’s typically what a close meet will come down to who can stay on the beam. Going into our last event, we knew we had to be solid on floor, and the girls were able to pull off some good floor routines.”

Galioto, a junior, finished with 38.525 points to edge North Allegheny’s Reyna Garvey (38.3), TJ teammate Natalie Moore (38.017) and West Allegheny’s Jordan Frasier (38.0).

“There was a lot of competition, and I knew I had to perform my best on all four events to have a chance of taking home the gold,” Galioto said. “Natalie stuck her vault to start off the competition. This was a great accomplishment, which fired up the team for the rest of the day.”

Galioto finished first on the floor exercise (9.7) and bars (9.583), second on beam (9.675) and sixth on vault (9.567).

“Natalie’s performance was amazing,” Cummings said. “She hit all four events with confidence. Natalie is a fun gymnast to watch. She really pulls the crowd into all her performances.”

Moore was a gold medalist in the advanced division thanks to a 9.8 on the vault.

“Natalie has a very difficult vault that no one else in the competition (attempted),” Cummings said. “It’s a blind landing vault, and she nearly performed it perfectly. She has worked very hard this year with perfecting that vault.”

The final WPIAL team standings were TJ, Moon (144.883), Pine-Richland (144.265), North Allegheny (142.718), West Allegheny (138.660), Baldwin (138.941) and Central Valley (136.775).

The Jaguars secured first on the beam (35.133) and bars (36.934), second on the vault (37.933) and fourth on the floor (36.375).

“I couldn’t be more proud of my team,” Galioto said. “We have worked so hard for this WPIAL title, and it was incredible to reach this goal. Every moment on Friday and Saturday was intense knowing that one slight mistake could change the outcome of the meet. Our coaches did such a great job preparing us for this moment, and it felt good to accomplish our goals and make them proud.”

“Overall, our team had so many fantastic accomplishments, and it will be a weekend I will never forget.”

TJ’s Demi Kondos (37.0) and Baldwin’s Mia Dougherty (36.8) placed eighth and 10th in the final advanced all-around scoring.

This year, TJ is led by seniors Kylie McCormick, Adara Getsy, Angelina Gambino and Courtney Kelley (who is injured); along with juniors Jade Conway, Maria Costa, Galioto, Kondos and Moore.

Other team members are sophomores Erin Grueber, Jackie Gunther and Anna Weber; plus freshmen Kaylee Rehak, Sophia Stoicovy and Kamryn Kameg (injured).

Weber placed third in intermediate I all-around at 35.292; Costa won the floor event with an 8.75.

The Baldwin gymnastics team also was a qualifier for the WPIAL team competition

Along with seniors Haili Cordell and Erin Winkowski, Baldwin’s gymnasts consist of junior Alaina Wodarek, sophomores Bailey Harding and Julia Stipetic, and freshmen Kaylee Garofalo, Abbey Herrle, Hanna Kuchnicki, Emily Schwab, Haley Staab and Dougherty.

Cordell earned first place on the beam (8.6) and compiled a 33.933 score to land the intermediate II all-around title.

“Baldwin had a great performance also,” Cummings said. “It was such an accomplishment to be qualified into the WPIAL meet, and the girls handled the pressure great. We have a young team and I know they are going to be great for years to come.”

Wodarek finished as the gold medalist on the floor in the intermediate I division with a 9.35 score. She also took first place on the floor last year.

Kuchnicki won the intermediate II vault championship with an 8.95, and placed third all-around with a 33.325 score.