'A huge sport of energy:' Algonquin gymnastics uses season high score to improve to 5-0

NORTHBOROUGH – Maggie Gorman is still cheering. She’s hearing plenty of them, too.

The Algonquin senior took two years off from the gymnastics team to be a cheerleader. The endless smiles of her teammates displayed how glad they are to have her back.

Gorman is one of five seniors that have vaulted the Titans to a 5-0 start after they scored a season-high 139.15 points in Thursday evening’s home meet with Shrewsbury and Groton-Dunstable.

What did Gorman miss during her two-year hiatus? Maybe not the seemingly endless supply of talcum powder, but certainly the high-tens, the hugs and the placing of a crown atop a teammate’s head after a just-finished routine.

“When we heard she was coming back to the team this year,” said senior Samantha Capes, “every year we kept saying, ‘you know Maggie, there’s still gymnastics!’ And then finally for her senior year, she came back home to us.”

“We love Maggie so much,” said senior captain Mihika Pherwani. “She has the best energy. She’s such a hype person – I love it.”

Gorman scored an 8.3 on the balance beam and 8.6 on the floor exercise, the final event for the Titans, who hopped and swayed during each routine on the edge of the mat.

“We carry each other through the events and bring the energy,” said two-year captain and senior Maddie Ho, who tallied a 9.0 floor exercise. “Especially on floor, our energy is so important because it carries people through their routine, even if you’re super tired during your routine, having people cheering you on is so hopeful.”

The last time Gorman competed for Algonquin, masks were prevalent. It was, yes, 2020. But this past summer, while working on cheerleading routines, the gymnastics moves started to come back.

So did she.

“Freshman year, it was COVID so everything was really divided and I felt like I didn’t get to bond with everyone,” Gorman said. “But this team is so connected, and even just joining in as kind of a new person to the team, I was instantly welcomed. That’s probably how it feels to the freshmen, too, because it’s new for everyone.”

Maya Regan won the bars (9.0), earning a crown and multiple screaming hugs in the process, and scored a team-high 8.9 on the balance beam. Kiera Akus led the team with a 9.1 on the floor and tied for the team high (with senior captain Erica DeMichaelis) on the vault with an 8.6.

When Algonquin completed its lineup of enthusiastic floor exercises, the three teams sat in circles on the mat and awaited the final results. Titans coach Angela Keith soon walked over, paper in hand, and announced the scores.

When she read off the season-high tally, the Algonquin girls – sitting crisscross apple sauce – erupted in a cheer and pounded the floor with open hands, happy as much as they were relieved.

“Every single meet we’ve had this season, we’ve increased our score significantly,” Keith said. “Every meet builds off of each other and we just take that energy from the previous meet and bring it with us to the next meet and that’s taken us very far.”

Senior leadership has been key as well.

“Gymnastics is a huge sport of energy, and it’s very contagious,” Keith said, “so when you have such strong seniors with a positive mindset and positive attitudes every day – it makes so much of a difference.”

“We all just feed off of everyone’s energy and since we’re all so close, we’re all so comfortable and we all have fun with each other,” added DeMichaelis.

Win, lose, nail a landing or slip off the beam, this team always has a cheer – or a crown – at the ready.

“This is the most united the team has felt in such a long time,” Capes said. “Everybody builds each other up consistently and everybody keeps reaching for more – even when somebody messes up, we look at it as something to learn from rather than something to be down on ourselves for.

“Everybody building off each other’s energy this year and spreading it to the freshmen, it’s keeping the Gonk gymnastics legacy up for sure.”

Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas. 

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Algonquin's senior leadership has gymnastics team off to 5-0 start