The Westfield high School gymnastics team flipped past the competition during the 2015 regular season. (File Photo)
WESTFIELD – A late-night history lesson is about to unfold Saturday night, but there is much more than extra credit on the line.
The Westfield High School gymnastics team will attempt to extend its decade-long dominance when it storms the Chicopee Comprehensive High School gymnasium for Saturday night’s championship, which is set to begin at 6 p.m.
The Bombers currently have a record of 151-0. They have won the last eight straight titles.
Legendary head coach Joanne Hewins, a superb gymnast in her own right who was featured in Sports Illustrated and currently serves as an instructor at Roots Gymnastics Center, created a high level of success at Westfield High School in the early 2000s as the team’s head coach. She built a powerhouse that still shows no signs of slowing down.
Throughout her coaching tenure, the high school gymnastics landscape changed. The number of teams in Western Massachusetts dwindled as participation numbers waned, and cash-strapped programs struggled to fund the sport.
Hewins retired as head coach of the Bombers prior to the 2014 season, turning the reigns over to longtime assistant Beth Liquori.
The Westfield Bombers celebrate a west sectional championship, their eighth straight, to improve to 141-0 in 2014. (File Photo)
Liquori succeeded in her first year as head coach, racking up another undefeated regular season capped off with the team’s eight straight championship crown.
In that meet, Westfield topped second-place finisher Minnechaug by 2.475 points to improve to 141-0. Bombers’ gymnast Elizabeth Walker, then a sophomore, fueled the victory with top three finishes on the vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, resulting in a second-place All-Around finish.
Kendall Neidig and Mairead Hagan helped spur Westfield’s championship victory, securing key points with their respective routines.
The success continued this season, with another perfect regular season record. Westfield has faced adversity, overcoming injuries of late with perseverance.
Friday night’s lights are typically set aside for football games, but the lights are sure to shine brightly Saturday on the gymnasts from the Whip City when they take the spotlight at Chicopee Comp.
Anything less would be a major surprise.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Several postseason games, involving area boys’ soccer teams, are scheduled Friday.
A tournament double header is slated to take place at Bullens Field when No. 3 Westfield Technical Academy (15-1-2) hosts sixth-seeded St. Joe’s (11-1-5) in a Division 4 quarterfinal at 4:30 p.m. Top-seeded Westfield (11-3-3) will take on No. 9 West Springfield (8-7-4) in a D1 quarterfinal, beginning at 7.
Other Friday boys’ soccer quarterfinal action features No. 4 Southwick (9-2-5) hosting No. 5 Frontier (12-3-2) in D2, starting at 2 p.m., and No. 7 Gateway (10-6-3) traveling to Lenox to take on the second-seeded Millionaires (11-5-2) in D4, beginning at 6.
The Westfield High School football team travels to Szot Park in Chicopee to take on the Pacers. Kick off is at 7 p.m.
