Gymnastics takes home finale
March 5, 2018
DeKALB — Junior Anna Martucci finished her floor exercise to an ovation of cheers and the crowd chanting “10” Sunday in the gymnastics team’s home finale.
The judges scored 9.95 and a perfect 10 for an official score of 9.975 for Martucci, helping the Huskies defeat the Western Michigan University Broncos 195.725-194.400 at the Convocation Center.
“I got a really good opportunity to build off of what the team did,” Martucci said. “They all had a great run too. I commend [the judge] for being so brave and putting that score out. I knew it’d be a good score, but I wasn’t expecting that.”
Martucci led an impressive event score for the Huskies, who scored 49.300 collectively at the floor exercise to help close out Western Michigan.
“We had a season-high score, and for a lot of them, it was their best gymnastics ever,” said Head Coach Sam Morreale. “I challenged our team to make this our best meet ever. I feel like we did a pretty good job of that.”
On the Huskies’ senior day, the seniors did not disappoint. Seniors Ashley Potts and Katherine Prentice led all gymnasts in scoring with 39.275 and 38.975 all-around scores, respectively.
“We put out our best team score today,” Martucci said. “In every event, everyone went out there and did their best. I couldn’t be more proud of my teammates.”
Cinny Lamberti led all gymnasts in scoring on vault with a score of 9.825.
Potts continued her strong performance on the uneven bars with a score of 9.85, which was matched by teammates Prentice and sophomore Allison Richardson. The gymnastics squad compiled an impressive 48.900 event score on the uneven bars.
“That’s just the caliber of athletes they are,” Morreale said. “I’m lucky, sometimes I get credit as a coach for kids just having crazy ability.”
The Huskies will look forward to the State Championship Meet 2 p.m. Saturday at the University of Illinois-Chicago to take on the Flames, the Illinois State University Redbirds and the University of Illinois Fighting Illini.