TUMBLING TIGERFISH

By Nick C urcuru Sports Editor

The Gloucester gymnastics finished off the Northeastern Conference/Cape Ann League dual meet season in style this week.

Gloucester, a co-op program with Ipswich High School that refers to itself as the “Tigerfish”, saved its best performance for last on Tuesday, putting up a season high 125.4 points in a victory over Malden at Iron Rail in Wenham, the team’s home gym.

With the win, Gloucester finishes up the regular season at 4-3. More importantly, the “Tigerfish” are 4-0 in Tier 2 of the NEC/CAL with victories over conference foes Peabody, Medford, Malden and Salem. In conference crossover action the team was very competitive in losses to Beverly, Danvers and Hamilton-Wenham.

“It was great to have our high score of the season in our last meet,” Gloucester head coach Sofia Gallo said. “We were undefeated in our division and we even competed well against the higher division teams with two of our losses coming by only two points.”

Senior captain Victoria Pekrul had the high score of the day for Gloucester in its win over Malden, scoring an 8.75 on the floor exercise. Carla Brea had a 7.4 on both the floor and the vault. Freshman Mia Russo scored an 8.35 on the floor while senior captain Riley Turner scored an 8.2 on the vault.

That quartet have been Gloucester’s most consistent scorers and all will be competing in the NEC/CAL meet.

The team is now preparing for the NEC/CAL League Meet on Sunday, February 13 at the Yellow Jackets Gym in Middleton (2 p.m.).

Gloucester’s Mia Russo competes on the beam in Tuesday’s meet against Malden.

Gloucester’s Paula Brea competes in floor exercise on Tuesday against Malden.

KIRK R. WILLIAMSON PHOTOS

Gloucester’s Victoria Pekrul had the high score of the day with an 8.75 on the floor exercise in Tuesday’s meet against Malden.

Gloucester’s Riley Turner competes in floor exercise in a recent meet at Iron Rail in Wenham.