Two words that come to mind when describing the Silver Lake/Pembroke High gymnastics co-op are young and talented.
The co-op is coming off a 6-2 season in which they captured a Patriot League title and despite that success, the team also had plenty of talent coming back and more incoming talent, adding to what was already a successful program.
On Tuesday, Dec. 19, the co-op was not even at full strength but showed what it is capable of achieving. They competed in a quad meet against Whitman-Hanson, Marshfield and Hingham at the Massachusetts Gymnastics center in Pembroke. Scoring 123.3, the co-op finished second among the four teams and finished the day at 2-1 despite not fielding their entire lineup.
“I think we did really well overall for our second meet,” Silver Lake/Pembroke head coach Cristy Schimmel said. “It was much-improved from our first meet even though we had a few girls out.”
The co-op’s top performances came in the vault and floor exercises. Tori Newton (8.8 vault), Calliste Brookshire (8.6 vault), Ciara Dalrymple (8.1 vault), Sara d’Entremont (8.0 floor) and Maize Condon (8.1 floor) were among the team’s top performers.
One of the team’s top athletes, junior Morgan Hackett, was out with a thumb injury while one of the team’s talented underclassmen, Katie Kemp, got off to a late start to the season, so she was not eligible to compete just yet.
Another major asset the team has this season is a great deal of depth.
“We have some level eights, nines and tens which is great, Schimmel said. “A lot of them practice year-round here in Pembroke too which helps a lot.”
The co-op’s next meet is next Friday, Jan. 5, against Cohasset at the Mass Gymnastics C.