Winthrop High star gymnast Brandi Dicicco played a key role as a member of the champion Team Massachusetts squad at the national high school championships held recently in Ft. Myers, Florida.
Brandi competed in two events, floor exercise and vault.
“Brandi has been working on upgrading her routines for this competition since the end of our season in February,†said WHS coach Pete Gobiel. “The meet is pretty intense with over 100 really good gymnasts competing.
“Massachusetts has developed a very intense rivalry with New Jersey,†Gobiel noted. “In the past two years, New Jersey beat us by .1 and the next year by 1.0.
“Brandi’s job was just to hit her routines and try to make the finals,†Gobiel added.
A couple of mistakes on the balance beam left Team Massachusetts feeling the pressure to stick their floor routines. However, Decicco did not disappoint her teammates and came through with a clutch performance, hitting her routine for a 9.35, her personal best of the season.
“Brandi rose to the level of all the top competitors and was unbelievable.,†said Gobiel. “It was the best routine I’ve ever seen her do. Her 20 teammates surrounded her as she walked off the floor.â€
The competition was close with Massachusetts battling New Jersey, Illinois, and Wisconsin. The vault was next and Brandi warmed up her tsukahara vault, which is a backwards flipping vault. She hit her vault, scoring a season-high score of 9.2, a mark that placed her among top four scores counting towards her team’s total.
After Team Massachusetts finished for the first day, they knew the meet was too close to call.
“Nobody felt that any one team dominated the meet,†said Gobiel. “It was going to be a close one. Everyone would have to wait until the next day after finals for the winning team to be announced.â€
Brandi made finals on floor and missed vault finals by one place. Her routine during finals on the floor exercise was superb, with no major mistakes, but the competition was tremendous.
Brandi did her job once again, finishing her career with a great performance. With all of the teams sitting on the floor, Team Massachusetts was called out last — finishing in first place and ending a drought since 2016.
“Brandi finished her high school career on top,†said Gobiel of his ace gymnast, who plans to compete for the Springfield College gymnastics team next year.