Girls Gymnastics: So Close, Yet So, So Far.
Oh, Oceanside. A few weeks ago I got all fancy and decided to compare Andy Morris' squad to the Tantalus of Greek myth. He was punished by the gods by always being thisclose to the one thing he wanted, only to have it move away. For Tantalus, it was food and water. For Oceanside, it's the county title.
And lest you think Oceanside bucked the trend and pulled out the upset over the ridiculously deep Bethpage/Plainview, let me put that notion to rest right now.
Nope - no rousing come-from-behind victory here. Just the best gymnasts in Nassau duking it out with everything that they had to offer. Bethpage bested Oceanside by a sliver: 167.5-166.15, led by Danielle Sadick, who came in second in the all-around with a 34.4. Nothing is official yet, but talk from the coaches indicate that this meet, the final one of the regular season for both, decided the leader of Conference I. Of course, there's the little matter of the county meet on Feb. 12. I trust Oceanside will feel a lot better about losing Conference I if they manage to unseat the nine-time champs.
A little more fodder for the best gymnast in Nassau debate:
On the one hand, we have Sadick, who is a consistent leader on the best team around. Then there's Oceanside's Erin Senior, who finished first with a 35.1 in Monday's meet. The thing is, though, it might be neither of them. Lost in the hubbub is Jessica Panza, an independent who competes with Bethpage but who's scores don't count towards the team total. The girl is seriously talented - she came in second in the state last year and pretty much blew everyone out of the water during the last meet. Suddenly, the state qualifier on Feb. 14 got just a little more interesting.