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03/25/2015 12:00 AMAbby McGuirk's final campaign with Hand gymnastics may have gotten out to a slow start, but once she hit the mat, the senior didn't miss a beat and wound up having a spectacular sendoff season.
Abby suffered a preseason foot injury during practice while working on a balance beam routine, forcing her to miss the early portion of the Tigers' regular season. However, Abby returned strong in January to help Hand repeat as conference and state champs while earning the honor of the SCC meet's Most Outstanding Performer and winning the solo vault and floor crowns in Class M. On top of that, Abby locked up an All-American Team bid, plus a slot on the National Team that will compete with Team Connecticut at the Senior Showcase Invitational in Florida in May.
"It means so much more that I was able to come back this year because it was my senior year and I wanted to be there for the team. We honestly surprised ourselves with the SCC and state titles. It was an unexpected and surprising season," says Abby, a First Team All-State gymnast who also helped the Tigers return to the New England Championship this winter. "I really can't wait to be on the National Team. I get to be a part of the Senior Showcase with other seniors across the country and I'm just really excited for it."
On her road to being named the top gymnast at the conference championship, Abby rewrote history by setting a new SCC record score for the beam with a 9.5-one of her three victories on that unforgettable night.
"Winning the MOP [Most Outstanding Performer] was such a surprise and I was so shocked. When they announced me as the winner, I looked at [Head Coach] Kelly [Smith] and my mouth just dropped," says Abby, who also captured the league's bars and all-around crowns. "I felt proud because that was only my second all-around event for the season and I just took it one thing at a time."
After the mishap with her foot occurred, Abby was steadfast in her belief that it hadn't broken. When it came time to starting competing again, she felt the unwavering support of both her teammates and coach.
"I was working on a handspring for the beam and I just got lost in the air. I actually refused at first to go to the doctor because I believed it wasn't broken. I went to acupuncture and conditioned at Shoreline Gymnastics since I wasn't cleared to be in the high school gym yet," Abby says. "It was hard to not be there, but my team helped encourage me. I was nervous when I came back on the beam as my first event, but not to the point where it affected my performance. Kelly said, 'You got this,' and I stayed on the beam."
Coach Smith explains that Abby's path with Hand has had its share of bumps, although it ultimately led to a bright destination.
"Over her four years, Abby has had her share of hardships between illnesses and injuries and her success this year was well-deserved. She's always been talented and a hard worker, but it seemed like everything came together at the right time for her this year. She hit in all the important meets for both herself and for our team and that made her an integral part of our team success this year," says Smith. "It's not easy to come back from injury time and time again and it was an emotional struggle at times for her, but I think now that she's been able to have such a successful season, she'll end her high school career on a positive note."
Even though she stepped into a big-time spotlight after her Tigers parted ways with several talented seniors from last year, Abby met the challenge head-on in her final run with a program that became her second family.
"Being a senior leader was hard at first for me because we lost some talented senior gymnasts from last season. It was hard to fill those shoes, but I knew I had to push through it all," says Abby, who thanks her parents, Patty and Dwight, along with Coach Smith, her friends, and teachers. "Hand gymnastics was one of the best high school experiences I had. I was close to all my teammates and it became like another family. It was an amazing atmosphere that I'm going to miss."