WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High gymnastics team earned their first win of the season on Jan. 11 with an impressive 124.05-106.7 triumph over Medford at home.
This win came sandwiched around two losses for Wakefield as they fell to Arlington in a close, 127.7-124.55 decision on Jan. 9 and a 135.15-122.1 final against Reading on Jan. 15.
In their win over the Mustangs, Wakefield got great scores from their all-around senior captains Mia Rich (32.9) and Cheyenne Toppi (31.95).
Toppi, who has earned the highest vault score at each meet so far this season, continued to set the tone for the Warriors with her 8.9 on vault followed by an 8.35 for sophomore Olivia Wall, an 8.3 from sophomore Kyler Dennison and an 8.2 from junior Michaela Lyons.
The first of three straight high scores for Rich occurred on bars where she got an 8.0. She was followed up by Toppi (7.1), sophomore Cara Carangelo (6.7) and sophomore Sophia Tulipani (6.4).
The Warriors held a 61.95-52.55 lead to this point and they made the win official with a 29.9-23.8 event victory on beam. Rich’s 8.2 set the tone followed by Toppi (7.6), Tulipani (7.1) and Lyons (7.0).
Wakefield finished strong on floor with the top four scores going to Rich (8.6), Toppi (8.35), sophomore Tori Grace (7.9) and Carangelo (7.35).
This was the second straight meet in which the Warriors scored over 124 as they finished with 124.55 against Arlington two days earlier, also at home.
“After our season opening meet, we made lineup adjustments that helped the team improve their score by four points, scoring 124-plus in back-to-back meets,” said head coach Meg Delory. “We still have athletes returning from illness or injury and are determined to surpass the 125 mark this season.”
Wakefield’s impressive team total against the Spy Ponders was the best of the season so far, once again paced by Rich and Toppi who scored 34.15 and 32.34 all-around, respectively.
Rich got a personal best 9.1 on beam in this one. She also scored a meet-best 8.4 on bars and tied for the best score of the meet on floor with an 8.65.
Toppi, who also got a personal and team-best on beam (8.7) during Wakefield’s meet against Reading, had an 8.5 on vault against Arlington and an 8.9 against the Rockets, both team-bests.
The Warriors were nearly even with Arlington after vault with Wall (8.05), Rich (8.0) and Dennison (8.0) following Toppi.
The two teams were completely even on bars with each scoring a 27.6. After Rich for Wakefield was Toppi (6.9), Carangelo (6.3) and Tulipani (6.0).
The Spy Ponders pulled away slightly on beam with an event win of 33.8-32.5 to make it 94.15-92.65 overall.
Rich’s 9.1 was followed up by Toppi (8.5), Tulipani (7.55) and Dennison (7.35).
The top four on floor was Rich (8.65), Toppi (8.45), Grace (7.7) and Carangelo (7.1).
Wakefield lost to Burlington 137.2-124.3 on Thursday, falling to 1-4 on the season, but they bounced back to get above the 124 mark after scoring 122.1 against Reading, a trend of improvement that they hope will continue starting tomorrow night when they host Malden at 4:30 p.m. A full story about the Burlington and Malden meets will appear at a later date.