The Aurora girls are part of a team representing six high schools.
The 2021-22 high school gymnastics season is underway and no one is more excited than Aurora head coach Gina Gastaldo.
Coach Gastaldo and assistant coaches, Dominique Kestranek and Maddie Prosek — owner of the team host gym, Chalk It Up in Chagrin Falls — have the unique opportunity of coaching a team of 19 gymnasts from six different high schools. Teams from Aurora, Chagrin Falls, Mayfield, Notre Dame Cathedral Latin, Orange and West Geauga all compete as one unit against other schools in Northeast Ohio.
On Dec. 9, Gastaldo’s team opened the season and competed in the always tough Brecksville meet, which also included gymnasts from Parma Padua as well as Brecksville. Competing in the shadow of 21 state gymnastics championship banners can be a little intimidating, but Coach Gastaldo had her team focused and her team performed well.
Aurora sophomore Hannah Salgado placed first on bars, second on beam, third on floor and first on vault, and won the overall all-around title with a score of 36.40.
In the second meet of the season on Dec 16th, the Chalk it Up High School team competed against each other at a home meet in Chagrin Falls. Nineteen gymnasts competed and Aurora’s Salgado again took the overall title with a score of 35.525.
Junior Anita Lifford of West Geauga came in second with a score of 32.65 and senior Kate Kaprosy from NDCL took third with an overall score of 31.15.
The meet was special as a guest appearance was made by the legendary coach Don “Papa” Schutz. Schutz, who was an All-American football player at the University of Akron and an inductee of the 2019 News Herald HS Sports Hall of Fame class as a gymnastics coach, was there to help spot and offer tips to Coach Gastaldo’s team.
Gastaldo, who is a legend in her own right, having won four gymnastics state titles at West Geauga, was ecstatic to have “Papa” Schutz there to offer encouragement to her team.
Overall, it was a successful meet for all the teams competing.
“I’m so proud of these girls,” said Gastaldo “Just being an athlete is hard, being a student is hard, to do all of this during this pandemic is really tough and stressful and I am so proud of these young women. They show up, work hard and have shown tremendous progress … and it’s only December.”
Gina mentioned that she wants to build on last year’s success and see more girls on the podium as the team prepares for sectionals in February.
Coach Gastaldo is especially excited about the Aurora team which will continue to get stronger with the addition of sophomore veterans Kassidy Fry and Kaitlin Zgonc in January.
The high school team competes again on Jan 6 against a strong Kenston team.
Read More: The Aurora girls are part of a team representing six high schools.