Gymnastics 2004 Midseason

As anyone who watched the gymnastics competition at the Athens Summer Olympics well knows, the difference between success and failure can be tantalizingly minute and is often decided on the opinion of a judge who may score two nearly identical routines very differently.

First year Scotch Plains Fanwood gymnastics coach Lisa Cerchio and her star performer, senior Katie Zaleski are all too aware of the precision needed for the Raiders to defend their title as the Union County Gymnastics championships begin tonight at Cranford.

On October 8 at the same site, the Raiders edged Dayton-Brearly100.4 to 100 to win the Cougar Invitational. Zaleski paced the Raiders with a fifth place overall finish as the team avenged a second place finish a year ago where they finished a razor thin .85 behind Cranford. The Raiders would come back to edge Cranford by an even closer 103.1 to 102.85 the difference of the smallest imperfection on either the floor exercises, balance beam, vault or uneven bars, the four disciplines that each gymnast must complete.

“Placing for each event including all around comes down to a tenth or so. That means that one balance check on beam or one form break on bars can make the difference between first and second place “ said Cerchio.


Westfield sophomore Claire Macdonald took first in the all around at the Cougar and is a slight favorite in a packed field that in addition to Zaleski includes Jessica Greenwald of Union, Alyssa Lewandowski of Union Catholic and Andi Soblosky and Jessica Zalutko both of Dayton-Brearley, a combined team of David brearly and Jonathan Dayton High Schools.


Cerchio’s interest in gymnastics began when she was five years old. When Mary Lou Retton won the gold in the Olympics, her grandfather and mother signed her up for lessons. Soon after she joined the team at Surgent’s inGarwood and continued to compete through high school. As a four year member of the gymnastics team at Roselle Catholic, Cerchio qualified for the sectionals on individual events. While in college, she became head coach at Roselle Catholic for three years. Currently she teaches kindergarten at Woodrow Wilson School #19 in Elizabeth.

Cerchio considers herself fortunate to have inherited Zaleski.

“Katie is a wonderful team leader and all around competitor. She is very dedicated to improving her routines at each competition and balancing her responsibilities as captain. Katie has been a true asset this year. She has all the qualities that you would want your captain to have ,” said Cerchio.

1) She excels on all four events, but especially on bars.

The team score consists of the top three individual scores on vault, bars, beam, and floor. In dual meets, each team is allowed to compete five individuals on each event. The top three scores are added together to make the team score. Hypothetically if each team member can compete all-around (all four events), a team could be made up of as little as three team members.

Most tournaments only allow four individuals to compete on each event, but the top three scores are still compiled together for the team score. Team scores are always compiled by the highest three scores on each event.

2) The competition that we face in Group 3 is tremendous. If you look at the scores from the Cougar Invitational alone, you can see that
3) The County Tournament is being hosted by Cranford this year, although we did win counties last year. All of the teams that competed in the Cougar Invitational have had a chance to compete on the equipment that will be used for the County Tournament. I don’t feel as though any one team will have a true advantage over another team based on the location of the meet.

4) Kate Breuninger is a senior this year. She has been a strong competitor in all four events this year. She has qualified to compete in Sectionals on three events- we are just waiting for one more beam score (which we expect this week). Laurel Devlin in a sophomore this year. She also has been competing in all four events. To date, she has qualified to compete in Sectionals on vault, bars, and floor. Natalie Capoccia is also a sophomore who competes on bars and beam. She has qualified to compete in Sectionals on both of these events. *** I know that you did not ask about Jackie DeJohn, but she is a senior whose individual scores have contributed to our team scores. She has qualified for sectionals on beam and floor. (Her scores have contributed to our team sores along with the other three gymnasts that you mentioned.)

5) Gymnastics is the type of sport that you dedicate your life to. You need to start gymnastics at a young age and continue training hard throughout your career. (You are right that many of the Olympic gymnasts are very young. That is because once puberty begins, the body has changed too drastically to train and compete at that level.)

6) Judging at the High School level is fair. The judges score based on what they see to the best of their ability. Of course nobody is perfect including judges- you need to keep that in mind. As long as they continue to score the routines to the best of their ability that is all we can ask.

7) As I said, gymnastics is a sport that athletes need to start training for early on in their life. High School gymnastics relies completely on a feeder system. We are very fortunate to have gymnasts from the Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA and Surgent’s Elite. These independent schools are where the girls continue to train when our season is over.

8) The Union County Tournament will take place at Cranford High School on Friday, October 22nd. Warm-ups begin around 4:00 and the actual meet begins at 6:00.


1) First of all tell us a little bit about yourself. How long you've been
doing gymnastics. What school you have practiced at.
I have been doing gymnastics since the age of three. I now practice at the
Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA.

2) Did you watch the olympics? What do you think of the judging system in
general? Do you think high school judging is generally fair?
Absolutely! In regards to Paul Hamm’s gold medal, the judges made a mistake
in scoring his routine, but also in scoring South Korea’s Yang Tae Young
routine. If both errors are taken into account, Paul Hamm’s All Around score
is still higher than Young’s. Judges make mistakes; but, once a medal is
awarded, it cannot be rescinded. For the most part, high school judging has
been fair.

3) What is your best event? Your worst?
My best event is bars. Vault is my worst event.

4) what is your favorite event? Least favorite?
Bars is my favorite event. Vault is my least favorite because practicing
vault is repetitious and is not quite as exciting as practicing the other
events.

5) How about being a pole vaulter and its interaction with gymnastics?
Doing gymnastics has given me strength, which you need in order to
pole-vault. Pole-vaulting is a little like vault in that I have to
concentrate on getting my body in the correct positions. I am able to
visually break down each part of the jump so that I know where I have to be
and when I have to be there. Turning my body upside down with my feet in the
air is something that I am accustomed to doing! But of course there are some
things I had to get used to: like training with a group of boys!

6) Who are some of the other gymnasts in the county that will contend?
Tiffany Lewis of Elizabeth High School is probably the best in the county
right now. At the Cougar Invitational, there was not a huge difference in
all around scores between first place and sixth place. Claire Macdonald,
Jessica Greenwald, Alyssa Lewandowski, Andi Soblosky, myself, and Jessica
Zalutko all had all-around scores in the 34 range. So, all of these girls
are in the running to medal at counties.

7) Is there a closeness with gymnasts that you might not find on other
sports since you all watch each other perform?
Definitely. We encourage and cheer for our own team as well as other teams.
A lot of us know each other from club gymnastics, and if not, we get to know
each other at our dual meets. So, at big meets, you’ll see girls from one
team yelling across the gym and cheering for girls on other teams.

8) do you enjoy watching other gymnasts perform?
I love to watch all levels of gymnastic competition. It is exciting to
watch Olympic gymnasts perform such high levels of difficulty. At the same
time, I love to see young gymnasts accomplish a skill they’ve been working
on.

9) You're a very good student. Have you decided on a field of study for
college? Are you planning to compete in college?
I plan to major in biology and go on to medical school to become a sports
doctor. If the college I go to has gymnastics, then I would like to compete.


Jessica Greenwald - Union
Alyssa Lewandowski - Union Catholic
Andi Soblosky - Dayton-Brearley
Jessica Zalutko - Dayton-Brearley

I'm 5'4". Not under 100 pounds.
Yes I am in the National Honor Society.

What are your interests outside of the sports you compete in?
I take voice lessons and participate in all of the select choirs in the high
school as well as Rep Theatre. I don't know if I mentioned this in my other
e-mail, but I'm president of the Spanish National Honor Society and I plan
to minor in Spanish in college.

Katie is the first full-time female pole vaulter we have ever had. I had Katie
in class when she was a sophomore (and again now in AP Calculus). I asked her
to come out and give it a try, as it would seem that good gymnasts would make
good pole vaulters. She has a phenomenal work ethic, she's very athletic, and
she gets good guidance from our pole vault coach, Pete Kane, who was a 15'
pole-vaulter himself. She made tremendous strides this past spring, and I think
she'll break through this year. There are a lot of girls who are clearing about
the same height as she is, but I think she has the potential to go 10', which
would really set her apart. Katie's just a great kid, and if I had a daughter,
I'd want her to be just like Katie.

I got a chance last fall to go to the county gymnastics meet as a spectator to
watch Katie compete and the team win the championship. It was a great moment
for them, and Katie was a big part of it. I'm not sure Katie gets all the
credit she deserves as an honor roll student and a top athlete, but that might come
from her being quiet and humble about her accomplishments and not drawing
attention to herself.