The Mt. Hope gymnasts have battled through injuries and COVID this season to excel in their sport. The Division I Huskies are currently 2-3 in Region I and in the thick to compete for a second regional championship.

“I am very proud of the girls,” said Huskies head coach Nicole Daniello. They have really work hard this season.We earned our top team score and we’re on a roll. We have room for improvement too, so we should be very competitive in February.”

The Huskies, under Coach Daniello, have a long list of accolades including the Region I championship last season. Mt. Hope also won the Division I state championship in 2020 and three Division II state championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

“It was so exciting,” Coach Daniello said about winning the regional championship last year. “I felt like we were very competitive with the teams in our region.”

This year’s team is full of hard working seniors, captains Nora Prendergast and Reese Pavao, Maria Tucciarone, Brooke Ramella and sophomores, Caroline Nash and Avery Furtado.

The Huskies scored 130.95 to beat Rogers 126.15 during a dual meet on Monday but lost to Barrington 133.85.

“The girls looked really good last night and they’re getting healthier,” said Coach Daniello. “Reese, Nora and Caroline were definitely the stand outs. They all received qualifying scores for states.”

Pavao led the team and placed second in all around, behind Barrington’s Shay Robinson, with an all around score of 34.05. She scored an 8.2 on vault, 8.5 on bars, 8.6 on beam and an 8.75 on floor.
Prendergast had an all around score of 33.7, with an 8.8 on vault, 8.05 on bars, 8.4 on beam and an 8.45 on floor.

Nash had an all around score of 32.15 with an 8.3 on vault, 7.6 on bars, 8.55 on beam, and 7.7 on floor.

Ramella scored an 8.2 on vault, a 7.0 on bars, and a 7.7 on beam. Tucciarone scored an 8.3 on vault, a 7.0 on beam and an 8.05 on floor.
Furtado is out with an injury and did not participate in Monday’s meet.

“We still have a lot of injuries and don’t have everybody competing on some events or at the level they’re capable of,” said Coach Daniello.

Strong students and good leaders
Pavao and Prendergast are the team’s top two gymnasts and train six days a week, either at a private gym or with the high school team. Both are strong students and good leaders, according to Coach Daniello.

“They are on all kinds of committees at school and have terrific grades,” she said. “It’s good for the younger gymnasts to see. They make time to lead the girls and show what being a captain is all about.”

Pavao is a stand out on bars and performs a giant, giant, layout, flyaway to finish her bar routine.

“Reese performs that very well,” said Coach Daniello” “Her cast hand stands are beautiful. They are clean, right over the bar. That’s what the judges want to see.”

“I’ve seen a major improvement on her bar routine just on execution from year’s past. You can tell that she’s been working hard and getting better.”

Last season Prendergast was scoring higher than Pavao, but this season her injuries are holding her back.

“Nora has been battling an ankle injury. She pushes off from that ankle,” Coach Daniello said. “Injuries are preventing her from performing the skills that she needs to do in order to achieve higher scores.”

But Prendergast has been making strides in practiced on beam and on vault and been doing a fantastic job, said Coach Daniello. Prendergast performs high level skills on vault. One is called a Tsukahara vault, a half on and back tuck off.

“It’s very difficult,” Coach Daniello said. “Nora started to use this vault last season and now performs it in every meet. She has been getting stronger and more consistent. She pushes through and works hard. Then does the therapy that she needs to do.”

When Prendergast overdoes it, and has to stay off of her ankle, she’ll train on bars instead.

“She takes care of herself, which helps her be able to push through it,” she said.

Senior Maria Tucciarone has been an all around gymnast for most of her high school career. But she broke her wrist this past summer while practicing on bars.

“Maria’s wrist grip-locked while performing a giant and she hasn’t been able to perform on bars this season,” said Coach Daniello.
Tucciarone was also getting headaches from the pounding during her floor routine.

“Sometimes that can happen. I guess,” Coach Daniello said. Despite the injuries that she has sustained, Tucciarone is excelling on vault this season and competes on beam and floor.

“Maria performs a twisting half on and full off on vault. It’s more difficult than a half, half, which the rest of the girls do. The start value is higher, but it’s also more difficult to get a good score on it, because of what the judges are looking for.”

Tucciarone scored an 8.2 on vault at the qualifier and scored an 8.3 at Monday’s meet. The senior also features a round-off, back hand spring, layout full, on her floor routine and generally scores an 8.1.
“She has improved since last year and she is adding new skills to her repertoire,” said Coach Daniello.

Ramella has had a difficult season with illness and toe and ankle injuries. Ramella attempted a front full while performing her floor routine during the team’s meet against Portsmouth and Middletown and, “crunched her ankle,” Coach Daniello said.

“It’s an advanced, superior skill,” she said. “Brooke couldn’t finish her routine nor finish the meet. Then we found out she was sick.”

Ramella came back and performed well Monday on vault, bars and beam, but did not perform on floor.

Nash is an up and comer for the Huskies. The sophomore is an all around gymnast that scores high on vault and beam and is making strides on bars and floor.

“Caroline is very talented. She belongs to a private gym and performs gymnastics all year round,” said Coach Daniello.

Nash also is nursing an injury that she sustained in the team’s second meet.

“She injured her toe while vaulting and couldn’t complete the rest of the events that day. That was weeks ago and her toe is still bothering her. She has to ice it after every practice. It’s painful, but she has been working through it.”

Furtado is also an up and coming all-around gymnast, but is battling a back injury this season.

“She’s been struggling with it,” said Daniello, adding that Furtado’s scores have been getting better when she can compete.

Battling COVID this season
“We have had pockets of COVID happening,” said Coach Daniello. “It hasn’t been enough to wipe out the whole team all at once. Which is good. But we have been missing gymnasts every week.”

Both coaches had COVID as well.

“I got COVID and my assistant got it last week,” said Coach Daniello. We couldn’t be there for meets and training. It’s definitely affected us.”

One meet the Huskies had so many out due to injuries and COVID, that they had to insert new gymnasts into the mix.

“We only had four gymnasts to perform on bars. Two of the four were beginners. Normally each team puts up six.”

Coach Daniello has observed that her gymnasts are fatigued and complain of back pain when they come back from COVID.

“They are exhausted,” she said. “They have back pain and joint pain. And some of them experience body aches. But they push through and we’ve not had to cancel a meet. That shows how strong willed they are.”

DI team competing in a region of DII teams
The Division I Huskies are competing in Region I, which consists solely of Division II teams. Teams qualify for states by averaging out the team’s meet scores, said Coach Daniello.

She is hoping that the Huskies will be able to qualify for the state competition, but illness, injuries and the new format may hold them back. The Huskies would have to place in the top three to qualify for states. A change due to the pandemic.

“I don’t think that we’ll make the top three,” she said.

Coach Daniello feels that the Huskies will compete for the regional title with Portsmouth and Barrington in the Region I championship on Feb. 13.

“We’ll have a chance to defend our regional title,” she said.