Niagara Gymnasts win Level 4 state championship

Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, June 22, 2006

The Gleason’s Niagara Gymnastics Level 4 team completed its storybook season by winning the New York State Large Team Gymnastics Championship on June 10 at the State University of New York at Cortland.

The Niagara Gymnasts, which lost only one meet all year, took the championship crown despite a considerable deficit before going into the final two events. But with strong performances in the floor and vault exercises, the team beat out the Orchard Park Gymsters for first place and the state title.

The Niagara team was paced by Lauren Testa of North Tonawanda, Payton Klidonas of Niagara Falls, Richelle Kloch of North Tonawanda, and Kim Runkle of Niagara Falls who finished first, second, third and fifth respectively in the all-around competition. During the team’s final rally, Testa scored a perfect 10 on the vault, while Runkle earned 9.65 points for her vault routine. In the floor competition, Klidonas and Kloch posted high scores of 9.60 and 9.45 points, respectively.

Cassie Mangan of Niagara Falls also delivered a great performance in her first-ever state meet as she finished with the 10th best all-around score.

Since the state meet is a team format, all members of the Niagara team contributed to the championship. In addition to Klidonas, Kloch, Mangan, Runkle and Testa, the team included: Kelly Bajorek, Bailly Barone, Ashley Gendron, Emma Knotts and Danielle Thaler, all of North Tonawanda; Rachel Franz, Lauren Hull and Sadie Schaefer, all of Tonawanda; Brianna Brandon and Sarah Dollendorf, both of Grand Island; Molly Brown, Sydney Celeste and Melissa Schmidt, both of Niagara Falls; Leah Kaphingst of Lewiston; Danae Floyd of Buffalo; Lia Parks of Youngstown; Meghan Aronica of Amherst; Madison Nash of Lockport; and Samantha Penman of Sanborn.