Oceanside vaults to victory

For two weeks leading up to the Nassau gymnastics team championships, Oceanside’s practices centered around the Tsukahara, a difficult and dangerous vault to perform.

“The girls worked on hitting the Tsuk every day for 10 days,” Coach Andy Morris said. “They knew it could be the difference between winning and second place.”

As it turned out, vault wasn’t the only reason the Lady Sailors outscored Plainview-JFK, 170.675-165.925, to capture their second county title in three seasons. But it made a big difference.

“It was painful to lose to Plainview during the regular season,” Morris said. “It probably bothered me more than it did the girls. They’re resilient.”

Oceanside totaled 42.4 points on vault, with each of its six participants scoring at least an 8.0. Junior Cheyenne Blumberg led the way in the event with a 9.0, followed by seniors Paige McCarthy (8.75) and Tara Wischerth (8.4). “One of the judges approached me after the meet and said she never saw a team vault like we did,” Morris said. “It was our first event of the night, and it really set the tone.”

The Lady Sailors began to separate themselves from the pack with a tremendous performance on uneven bars. They scored 42.125, almost three-and-a-half points better than Plainview and four-and-a-half more than Massapequa, which finished third. Blumberg had an 8.8 on bars, senior Diana Tolaj added an 8.775, junior Casey Block scored 8.35, McCarthy scored 8.2 and senior Brianna Grimaldi came through with an 8.0. 

“I was confident after the first two events,” Morris said. “We were in great shape. We were solid on beam all season, and floor exercise was our best event.”

Junior Jenna Blackman enjoyed an outstanding balance beam routine that produced a score of 8.9, ranking her second out of 48 competitors. McCarthy and Tolaj each scored 8.5.

Despite a comfortable lead with one event to go, Oceanside didn’t let off the gas. Instead it stretched the margin with a 44.4 on floor. McCarthy and Tolaj came through with a 9.15, followed by Blackman (8.8), Block (8.75), Wischerth (8.55) and Blumberg (8.45).

“This is the eighth county championship we’ve won, and each time we’ve done it with a higher score,” Morris said. “Plainview was good, but we were phenomenal.”

McCarthy finished third out of 41 competitors in the all-around with a 34.6. Blumberg was fourth with a 34.2 and Block placed ninth with a 33.15.

“A different kid stepped up in every meet, and everyone stepped up at counties,” Morris said. “At the beginning of the season, Newsday wrote a gymnastics preview and the headline was ‘Plainview stands alone.’ We hung it up in the locker room and used it as a rallying point.”