Three varsity gymnasts from Tri-Valley High School have qualified to compete in state competition. Tri-Valley senior Gwen Lacy, freshman Eva Prati, and sophomore Analeigh Braddock will be headed to Hilliard Bradley High School, Saturday and Sunday, March 7th – 8th, to compete against 122 of the state’s best gymnastic athletes in vault and bars.
“They competed against about 175 girls for eight spots. So that’s a very prestigious group of girls who get to qualify for the state. I would say that this group is a very talented group, and I’m very proud of them. They’ve worked really hard this year, not just on their skills, but also just in mental preparation for meets and learning how to come together as a team and support each other. And those parts of gymnastics really set apart a good team from a great team, and this is a great team,” stated head gymnastics coach Jennifer Martin.
Senior Gwen Lacy, who is competing Saturday in vault for Tri-Valley, had this to say: “Well, it took a lot of hard work in the gym, and I’m excited to go to state this year because this is my senior season. And it’s a good way for the last year of my gymnastics career to be over after state. And yeah, it feels really good. The high school experience has definitely been a long ride. And it took a lot of effort. I’m glad to be here and come out where I am after this season.”
“They did break the school record for the team score, too. So that record’s been in place since 2017. So this is a fairly small team, but six is the number of girls that you get to compete in each event when you go to the meets. And with some injuries, we were even short on that.
So very proud of the girls that they were able to break that school record, and break several school records at the district meet. It’s high pressure. It’s a very long day, and the girls were able to perform at their highest level. So as a coach, I couldn’t ask for anything more,” continued Martin.
CAPTION: Tri-Valley Gymnasts Analeigh Braddock, Gwen Lacy, and Eva Prati headed for State
Competition. | CREDIT: Matthew Dotson, The Buzz
