WHS Gymnastics Team Washes Down Cars to Prepare for 2011 Season

The Westfield High School gymnastics team traded in somersaults for soapsuds Saturday, running a car wash fundraiser that raised $215 for next season.  

Organized by senior tri-captains Abbie Goldring, Kaitlin Johnson and Sara Shields, along with the rest of the gymnastics squad, the car wash was held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the high school’s back parking lot. The event has become an annual tradition for the squad, sponsored just before school lets out for the year.

Armed with sponges and squeegees, the gymnasts stopped cartwheeling and dismounting for a few hours to prepare financially for the next season. The annual fundraiser helps raise funds for the squad to cover uniforms and other extras outside of the school budget. The team is preparing to work during the summer, before formal practices begin in August to get ready to defend several titles.  

During the 2010 season last fall, the team enjoyed an exceptional season, winning the Union County Tournament and the Cougar Invitational titles, with some of the gymnasts advancing to compete in individual sectional and state meets as well. 

The team was named the 2010 North Jersey, Section 2 Team of the Year by the Star-Ledger; in 2008, Melissa Bryan, who will enter her 12th year of coaching gymnastics at WHS this coming fall, was awarded coach of the year by the newspaper as well.

With no junior varsity or freshman squads, the Westfield gymnastics team may be one of the smallest athletic squads fielded by the high school, but makes up for size with a determination. 

With an eye toward the future, the maturing team has high expectations for next year, hoping “to take Counties again and get even more girls to sectionals,” said Goldring as she hosed down a car at Saturday’s fundraiser.  “We just want to have another great season.”