Gymnasts strut their stuff at JFK meet

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In between split-jumps, small-hops and a round-off dismount from the balance beam, Maieja Williams takes the occasional fall.

The junior is DeWitt Clinton High School’s best female gymnast, but she acknowledged that the hardest part of the sport for her is staying composed while performing high above the judge on the beam.

“Everything else is not really frightening for me, but when it comes to beam, I’m really scared,” Williams said, adding that when she falls, “I think I want to quit, but I’m just like, ‘No, I love to do this. I can’t quit.’ Especially when you go to a different school, there’s way more pressure.”

Williams has persevered. She scored a 5.5 on the beam, an impressive 7.0 on the vault and finished a Dec. 18 tri-meet at the Kennedy campus with a 22.2 in the all-around. Williams, whom her teammates nicknamed Drama because they say she is dramatic (she herself doesn’t think so), stuck her landing on the vault to earn the top score of the event.

In the team competition, Clinton lost to JFK, 67-63.2, and both teams lost to Christopher Columbus Campus, which scored a 92.4.

JFK junior Danielle Jackson’s straddle-over on the vault earned a 6.4 and junior Danielle Brown scored a 6.2 to lead the Knights to their first win of the season. Senior Afia Waithe, who is generally the team’s top performer, scored a 5.9 on the vault, but she fell off the balance beam on her dismount and injured her knee, causing her to miss the uneven bars and floor exercise.

Waithe scored a 6.0 on the vault in the Knights’ season-opening loss earlier this month to the Bronx High School of Science, which has emerged as the top team in the borough and one of the best in the city. Against JFK, Bronx Science sophomore Sophie Wechsler posted a 26.75 all-around score and junior Fiona Sherman had a 26.2.

Last year, the Wolverines placed sixth in the city, and they are expected to finish even higher this season.

Rebuilding year

Longtime JFK coach Luthy Nuesi had built JFK up to a gymnastics powerhouse a few years ago, posting six straight undefeated seasons from 2005-10. But this year’s team is young, Nuesi said, and is mostly comprised of girls who are new to the sport.

“This team is basically a lot of first-year builders,” she said. “So in two years, this team will be improved. We will be tight.”

The squad’s improvement was evident on the balance beam. Senior Kelly Almanzar did a series of hops on the balance beam and then nearly fell off when she spun, but she saved herself, completed her routine and scored a 4.1.

Nuesi no longer teaches at Kennedy, which she said makes it more difficult to recruit talented athletes. But there’s a certain attribute she always looks for, and she’s astute at quickly pointing it out.

“It’s a special look in their eyes, where they have that wild kind of look,” she said. “Just that I’m-willing-to-try-anything kind of look. If they’re too shy, it takes me more than two years to break them in. I like to get them adventurous, that kind of attitude profile.” 

JFK, wearing its sparkly red leotards, certainly looked the part last week.

Meanwhile, Clinton is also building behind first-year coach Nichelle Nunez. The Clinton gymnastics alum spent four years honing her teaching and coaching skills at SUNY Cortland and has returned in hopes of bringing her alma mater to an elite level in the sport.

“I have some girls that have never touched the beam before,” she said. “So the skill level, we work from the bottom and try to raise up, whereas some other teams have been practicing for forever. But our teamwork is great and they really work together.”

And the try their hardest not to get scared on the balance beam.

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