First-year gymnast reaches regionals

By Daisha Palmer-Washington

Sophomore gymnast Samantha Hall made it to regionals.

“I pushed and went as hard as I could in practice and meets, but mostly I had fun,” said Samantha, who was the only Lady Blue Devil to advance to regional competition.

Senior gymnast Yovanka Lopez-Boutier said the team was amazed when Samantha made it to regionals in her first year on the team, especially since she would be competing in a very difficult event: uneven parallel bars.

Samantha is an all-around gymnast with six years of experience. She no longer competes outside of school because competing as a Blue Devil was more fun. She practiced with teammates every weekday from 4-6:30 p.m.

“I’m very proud of her,” senior gymnast Christina Fant said. “She worked hard to get to regionals, and I’m glad she had the opportunity to represent Varina there. I hope she gets to go back her next two years doing gymnastics at Varina and places even higher.”

Christina said that it’s every gymnast’s dream to make it to regionals as “one of the top dogs.” She attributed Samantha’s success to hard work, focus and team support.

Samantha’s cousin, Madison Lucord, was one of her supportive fans.

“Knowing she has people watching her that are really close to her family and friends, it makes her feel like she is cared about,” Madison said.

“My coaches and team put in so much effort for all of the girls on the team,” Samantha said.

Although Samantha did not place at regionals, she said she enjoyed the competition and will work harder next year if she gets to go back.

“I knew people there, and they made it really fun. Regionals were different from meets because I was the only one there and only did one event, so it went really quick,” Samantha said.

Permanent link to this article: https://blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/bluedevilsadvocate/2015/06/12/alumnus-supports-team/

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