NORTHBOROUGH — Richard Nixon was about to be elected for a second term, the world’s best athletes gathered in Sapporo and Munich and “All in the Family” was tops on the tube.
The year was 1972 and that was the last time Newton North tasted a gymnastics championship. That was until Saturday afternoon at Algonquin Regional.
The Tigers came in as the top seed and they more than lived up to that billing as they led from the first routine to the last, besting defending champions Masconomet with a 146.025 score.
“These girls are such a good team,” Tigers coach Cassie Ford said. “They’ve been here before and knew what to expect. They have the experience of competing with these other teams and it showed.”
Halfway through the competition, the Tigers only held a .850 lead over Westborough with Marlborough and the Chieftains over two points back.
Any hopes the Tigers chasers might have had about a comeback died on a four-inch wide piece of wood as Newton North put up a beam set to remember.
How good was it? They didn’t need to count Alana Dukakis’ 8.925 leadoff score as Julia Brown, Simone Batiste-Ciani and Neherika Joyanth all scored 9.150 or better before Lucia Grapski’s 9.525 put the cherry on top.
By the time they were done, Newton North had opened up a 2.900 point lead on Masconomet, leaving the remaining teams to battle for second.
“Once we got through that beam routine, I felt pretty good going to the floor,” Ford said.
Masco wasn’t ready to surrender its title quietly as it racked up a 36.800 on the vault, capped by a 9.825 from Sarah Aldrich and a 9.675 from Grace Foley. It was good enough to move Masconomet into second as Newton North closed out its floor routines.
Despite a couple of mistakes, the Tigers got clutch performances from Batiste-Ciani and Joyanth, leaving Grapski needing only a 6.650 or better to take the title. Her 8.800 did the job and the gold trophy was heading back to Newton.
“Masco has such great athletes and are tough competitors,” Ford said. “Watching them on the vault was tough but I knew my girls could pull it through.”
Gauri Sharma’s individual brilliance on Saturday, capped by a 9.700 on the beam, helped Westborough to the final spot on the podium. Her all-around score of 37.900 was the best of the day, barely edging out Central Catholic’s Callie McCarthy and Wilmington’s Lexie Masters.
