It was a Grimm weekend for Central Valley at the WPIAL gymnastics championships.
And the Warriors couldn’t have been happier.
Central Valley senior Carolyn Grimm won the Diamond Advanced Division individual all-around title to complete a clean sweep of the top events in all three individual classifications as well as the team crown in the finals at Moon.
Samantha Alexander, the defending all-around champion, did not compete in the meet as she is recovering from elbow surgery. The Pine-Richland junior also missed her freshman year because of a severe neck injury that held her out in 2019.
Without her in the lineup, Grimm was able to post a score of 38.750 and took two individual events to win her first title.
“It’s insane,” Grimm said. “Just being able to come out here my senior year and win the team and win first overall, it’s a real moment, that’s for sure.”
Grimm did not finish in the top 15 in the WPIAL a year ago after she finished fourth on the uneven parallel bars, 14th in the vault and 17th in the floor exercise. She did not finish in the top 17 on the balance beam.
She certainly made up for it this year, though, as she set a WPIAL record with a 9.80 on the balance beam and also won the floor exercise with a 9.675. She finished second to Kayce Tomasic of Hempfield in the vault and second to Sara Eskew of Mt. Lebanon on the parallel bars.
“I didn’t think the record was real and I looked at the score and went, ‘Oh my God’ when I saw it flash,” Grimm said. “The judges told me it was deserved and it’s just insane like I’ve been saying this whole time.”
She wasn’t the only member of the family to take home the all-around. Freshman sister Megan Grimm won the vault and finished second in the bars and the beam as she took first overall in the Gold Intermediate Division I finals with a final score of 36.000, 0.375 better than Blackhawk’s Leah DeChellis.
Central Valley also won the Silver Intermediate II individual title as Amber Wilson took home the crown in the least experienced division. Wilson’s overall score of 34.725 was 0.250 points ahead of Olivia Sedlacek of Hopewell.
Moon may have edged Central Valley on bars with 35.625 points, but the Warriors’ 36.00-34.475 difference on the beam and 37.125-36.950 parallel bars was just enough to give them a 144.850-144.650 victory in the overall team competition and their first title.
“This is my first title here in 17 years and it’s my first WPIAL title,” Central Valley coach Terri Gazda said. “I’ve won some state titles, but WPIALs is harder than states because our section is so much harder and they don’t all go to states.”
This was also the third consecutive year Moon finished as the WPIAL team runner-up. The Tigers came in second to Thomas Jefferson in 2019 and 2020.
First Published: February 28, 2021, 1:37 a.m.
