Text size:

2007-08 All-Long Island Gymnastics

BY LAURA ALABNESE | laura.albanese@newsday.com

April 4, 2008

A look at Long Island's best gymnasts from the 2007-08 season.

GYMNAST OF THE YEAR:
Jessica Panza
Island Trees, Sr.

Panza, who is headed to North Carolina State next year on a gymnastics scholarship, won the state gymnastics title with an all-around score of 38.100. Panza, an independent gymnast who has been training since she was 3, swept all four events in the Section VIII qualifiers and finished with a score of 38.275.

Chelsea Savit
Half Hollow Hills, Jr.
Savit was second in the Suffolk state qualifiers with a score of 37.725, and first in bars with a 9.45. At the state meet, she finished sixth at 36.800, the highest score for a Section XI gymnast. Savit also competed in the Empire State games last year, where she finished 10th.

Brittany Cassar
Kings Park, Jr.
Cassar was first in the Section XI qualifiers with a score of 36.975, and took first in the balance beam for the fourth year in a row. At the county meet, Cassar also led Kings Park to its fifth straight Suffolk title. Cassar, who battled back from injury in the 10th grade, popped her elbow before the state championship meet.

Katie Goddard
Kings Park, Sr.
Goddard, a 2006 club gymnastics regional champion in floor, was third at the state qualifier and 13th in the state championship meet. The club gymnast will join Brown's gymnastics team next year.

Erin Senior
Oceanside, Sr.
Senior helped Oceanside dethrone nine-time Section VIII champ Bethpage/Plainview with an all-around score of 35.3. This year, she shattered every record in school history and was the second-highest finisher at the qualifiers, with a 35.8. She finished 16th at the state meet with a 35.025.

Danielle Sadick
Bethpage/Plainview, So.
The youngest all-around state qualifier, Sadick finished with a 33.500, including a 9.2 on vault. She scored 35.5 in the qualifiers and 33.725 at the Section VIII championship meet, enough to secure her team a second-place finish. Last year, Sadick went to the club gymnastics national meet as a first alternate.

COACH OF THE YEAR
Andy Morris
Oceanside
Morris came into the season with a group of young but talented girls still smarting from last year's narrow loss to Bethpage/Plainview in the county championship. But, after nine years of Bethpage domination, Morris and his team was able to unseat the champion and clinch Oceanside's first county title since 1992. Morris won the Section VIII championship in his first five years as coach, mostly, he said, due to an extremely talented team that taught him the ropes. Now in his 25th year coaching, his experience can rival that of almost any coach on the Island.