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02/13/2012 11:00 PMStanding in front of her teammates, coaches, and fans, Haddam-Killingworth senior gymnast Hannah Kelly donned her senior crown, flowers, and a balloon-small trinkets of her team's appreciation of her leadership, and most notably, her toughness. After breaking both arms on the uneven bars as a freshman, some questioned if Kelly would ever be back in action again. At last week's Senior Night, Kelly proved just how tough gymnasts are.
Kelly, the only senior on the HK/Hale-Ray/Old Saybrook co-op gymnastics team, was in action on Feb. 9 at Shoreline Gymnastics in Old Saybrook, squaring off with a familiar foe-and friend-Valley Regional, as well as Old Lyme and Windham. Injuries have left the Cougars as a team of only three, meaning they won't go to states as a squad, but that didn't mean this meet wasn't important. Kelly-also the only gymnast from HK-and the rest of her teammates are trying to qualify for states as individuals, and as evidenced by their 97.5 points, the Cougars are in great shape to do just that. Old Lyme scored 91.30 points and Windham totaled 72.2.
"People asked me when I got injured, 'are you going to go back to gymnastics,' and without a doubt in my mind, I said 'yes,'" said Kelly. "It is something I've done since I was little' and of course there were doubts sometimes, like 'this is so hard, am I going to be able to do this,' but in the end I'm happy I worked and got back into gymnastics. I've been looking forward to this time when I'm crowned as a senior because I've seen all the girls before me do it. So I did think I would get here but I knew it would take hard work."
HK was pitting itself against Valley, a team it is quite familiar with as they share a coach and often the same facility. The Warriors have been the gold standard in Class S gymnastics over the last three years by winning three straight state titles, but the environment at Shoreline was less like a competition and more like a group of friends all supporting each other.
"Of course, we are competing for our own team; that is why we have teams," Kelly said. "But all the girls will practice together on occasions. I think we go out there and compete for ourselves and see what we can do, but I feel like when we are out there everyone is cheering for everyone."
Just the simple numbers on the Valley team gave it the win as the Warriors scored 129.5 total points. Still, HK posted numerous quality scores in all four events as Kelly was the top scorer on the floor by posting a 9.1 that was followed by teammates Samantha Lemire with a 9.0 and Oliva Pugliese with a 6.7. Kelly and Lemire's scores were particularly impressive considering no one on the Valley side topped 8.6 points.
"Hannah broke her elbows, both of them two years ago, but she came back and stuck it out. That is a wonderful story," said Carl Cavrell, who coaches HK and Valley.
The Cougars were also strong on the vault as Lemire led the way with a 9.25. Kelly followed with an 8.85 and Pugliese scored an 8.1. It is these type of scores that would've sent HK into states as a team had fourth gymnast Jenn Martin not gotten injured.
"They've been around long enough to understand the way things work," Cavrell said. "With four kids it's really tough; when someone gets injured that's it. That is the way it is, but they took it in stride. They were of course disappointed, but Hannah is definitely going to be making it to states and [Lemire] is definitely going to be making it to states."
HK even did well on the dreaded beam, posting two of the top three scores from the meet. Lemire scored a 9.3 with her routine-the best score of the day-and Kelly earned an 8.6, the third best score. Pugliese added a 6.0 to give the team a 23.9 total in the event.
"When I used to compete, I used to get nervous, but now I'm just focusing on having fun. It is my senior year and I just want to do the best I can," said Kelly. "So especially with floor, I have a fun routine to go out there and have fun."
Then there was the bars, the scene of Kelly's horrific accident. But judging by her score and the team score as a whole, one would never guess the bars had forced Kelly into emergency surgery two years prior. Kelly scored an 8.5 with Lemire earning an impressive 9.2 and Pugliese again totaling 6.0.
"I've kind of learned to work with that difficulty and I like to think I'm pretty much back to where I was before my injury, but it is still very difficult," Kelly said. "There is still that fear sometimes. It is a hard thing to overcome, but my teammates and my coaches were really supportive when I was hurt."
The Cougars have one more meet against Valley before the Class S State Championship on Saturday, on Feb. 25 at Pomperaug.
"Tonight, from what I saw, in the events I saw, it looked like all the kids did pretty well and hit better than they had in their last couple meets," said Cavrell. "So I was pleased with that."