Blue Wave Gymnast Perkins Qualifies For New Englands

Ranked eleventh in vault going into the CIAC State Opens championship March 7 at New Milford High School, Darien freshman Olivia Perkins jumped eight spots in the lineup to tie for third and qualify for the New England Championships. Her signature tsuk pike, a straight-legged backflip over the horse, won her 9.15, her highest score of the season. She achieved the same score February 4 in a meet against Wilton High School.

"I think it's impressive she was able to keep her nerves in check at this huge meet and perform so well," said Darien co-captain Kerry McDermott. "It's exciting that she qualified for New Englands."

Perkins scored 8.475 on bars at the meet, placing eighteenth, and tied for thirtieth with a 7.6 on beam.

Team co-captain Lana Schmidt also competed in three events at State Opens. Positioned thirty-fifth on beam going into the meet, she placed twenty-eighth, moving up higher still in her floor rankings from thirty-seventh to an 8.3 twenty-fourth. On vault, she entered the meet in twelfth place and kept her ranking, finishing twelfth with an 8.875 that was just .5 points away from cracking the top ten and making New Englands.

“Before the meet I told the girls that, ‘everything in your lives has brought you to this moment’,” said coach Judy Zakim. “Qualifying for State Opens is based on season averages, which means their hard work is exemplified. Having a senior, Lana, competing for the last time and a freshman, Olivia, competing for the first time was very exciting. Both are exceptional athletes who deserve to be praised. I’m honored to be their high school coach. After a long day and stiff competition, both girls earned First Team All State Honors based on their performances.”

Schmidt and Perkins made the All-FCIACs First Team several weeks ago and helped Darien gymnastics soar throughout the season. On January 30th the team hit its high point with an overall meet score of 131.6 - 3.2 points higher than competitor Greenwich’s 128.4. The Blue Wave also earned its best bars score of the season, 30.4, and best beam score, 34.2, at the meet. Though it lost to Wilton, its 34.8 on vault scored a season high, ditto its 33.55 against Warde and Ludlowe January 25 on floor.

Highlights for individual gymnasts include beam queen Schmidt’s 9, her season best, against Greenwich, and an 8.85 that won her second at the Pomperaug Invitational in Southbury January 20. Perkins’s 9.025 first on vault at the CIAC Class M gymnastics championship marked a watershed for her alongside her 9.15 tie-for-third vault score at State Opens.

Co-captain and cornerstone-of-the-team McDermott made it a double with an 8.2 on vault and beam, top scores for her against Norwalk and Staples February 8 (beam) and the CIAC Class M championship (vault). Sophomore Maggie Russell did best on vault, too, following a 8.55 eighth place at Pomperaug with a season high 8.6 versus Greenwich. Russell often competed in every event at meets in tandem with consistent all-arounders Schmidt and Perkins.

Though junior Lauren Grandon hit higher marks on vault - 8.5 January 20 against Trumbull and St. Joseph high schools - her dramatic floor routine at FCIACs, 8.15, was equally memorable. For junior Lucy Collins it came down to an 8.1 tie between her vault in Greenwich and, in Trumbull, her precision on beam.

Sophomore Sommer Schmidt’s beam double back walkover proved unstoppable. Her clutch score? Against Greenwich, 8.5. Sophomore Megan Cutler equalled these beam points in Wilton for the best score of her season.

Freshmen Abby Kissko and Alex Decsi shattered personal records on vault at the same meet, against Westhill High School on January 28. Decsi sprang an 8, Kissko an 8.4, while freshman Mia MacDonald’s big moment came at the CIAC Class M championships on bars, 6.9.

Co-captain McDermott explains the friendship that has connected these gymnasts throughout, allowing them to do their best for Darien and for each other. “We bonded really well as a team at the beginning of the season. That helped make it a great year.”