February 12, 2024 – Story by Ava DiCecca, photos by Joshua Ross
In a fantastic performance full of team spirit and personal bests, Hingham Hull gymnastics clinched third place in the League Championship meet Friday night with a score of 133.30. This team win was accompanied by many individual feats and while the girls were sad to see their season coming to a close, they have much to be proud of from the night.
Many of the girls had some of their best showings of the season and secured a place in the top eight overall and in individual events. Ava Pappone had an incredible meet and placed second on vault, sixth on beam, third on floor, and won the sportsmanship award for Hingham. Sienna Besser dominated as usual and placed third overall with a score of 35.50 and was named an All-Star on vault. Julia Scipione was recognized as Hingham Hulls scholar athlete and placed fourth on beam. Taylor Delaney, Jess Scipione, and Lily Steiner all had amazing performances as well, Delaney placing in floor and bars, Scipione on bars and vault, and Steiner on vault. Lastly, Captain Elizabeth Schembri placed seventh overall with a score of 32.40, a huge accomplishment for her.
Following the meet, Coach Boyd was very proud of the girl’s performances and was thrilled to see many of them achieve personal bests: “It was an amazing season. Our girls made amazing memories and they scored really well and this was one of our best meets so we are just really excited for them.” From the start of the season, she emphasized the importance of positivity, hard work, and a focus on just having fun improving with the team and believed it would be the key to their success. Those focuses have clearly led the team to be a cohesive one as there was no shortage of encouragement from each and every one of the girls as they pushed themselves and their teammates to be their best for their biggest meet.
Coach Boyd and her fiery new assistant coach have propelled that attitude and made a huge impact on the team’s mindset. They reflected on earlier in the season and talked about where this focus on just enjoying gymnastics together stemmed from: “We placed second a league invitational in January by a tenth and I said to the girls right then and there it’s not about that. It’s about the memories we make and just enjoying gymnastics and no matter what happens at the league championships we will be proud of them and we will have no regrets.”
While Coach Boyd would have been proud of her girls either way, they definitely had an incredible performance and should feel very accomplished not just in this meet, but in their successes this season. They have improved in many ways and followed through on their commitment to making great memories with each other and enjoying gymnastics as a team and this meet was more than proof of that.