Great Neck North Girls Gymnastics

By Chris Omeltchenko

The Great Neck North girls gymnastics team is under way with Coach Jeanie Burnett and her new Assistant Coach Tracy Blinder. Coach Burnett was North's assistant coach for the past four years but Neil Auerbach, the head coach for the past 11 years retired. Tracy graduated from Great Neck North in 1993, and got her degree from Springfield College in the spring of 1997. Tracy served as field hockey coach for Great Neck South this past fall.

North Girls Gymnastics Team -- 1st Row: Debbie Nazarian, Sara Aviram, Randi Stone, Sara Novikoff, Elise Novikoff. 2nd Row: Coach Tracy Blinder, Rachel Roisman, Marissa Mayer, Coach Jeanie Burnett

North's team consists of senior Sara Novikoff. Who is a co-captain along with junior Sara Aviram. Aviram was All County in all four gymnastics events.The rest of the roster consists of juniors Randi Stone and Marissa Mayer, sophomore Rachel Roisman and freshmen Debbie Nazarian, Jessica Bassic and Elyse Novikoff.

North competes in Conference 2 which consists of Great Neck South, Mineola, Cold Spring Harbor, Port Washington, Long Beach, Manhasset, Lawrence, and Hewlett. North had a scrimmage against Mineola Dec. 15. North scored 118.0 points against Mineola's 94.7. Six athletes from each school compete in the four events. The top five scorers from each school add up their points. In the vault, Aviram won with a score of 7.9 points. Mayer and Roisman placed third and fourth with scores of 7.0 and 6.8. On the uneven bars, Aviram, Stone and Sara Novikoff placed first, second, and third, with respective scorers of 5.5, 4.5, and 4.4. On the balance beam, Aviram, Mayer, and Sara Novikoff placed first, second, and fourth. Their scorers were 7.4, 6.8, and 5.9 respectively. The final event was the floor. Aviram, Stone, Roisman and Elyse Novikoff placed first, third, and a tie for fourth.

Coach Burnett places goals of wanting the team to work hard, have fun, and stay healthy. There is a team championship in February where the top eight teams from both conference 1 and 2 compete for a county championship. The top eight teams qualify by the average of the teams four highest team scorers after dropping the highest score. The individual county championships also held in February puts the top 24 athletes in the county on each event based on the average of their top four scorers. Coach Burnett looks at South and Lawrence as the teams to beat in the conference.