Monroe-Woodbury gymnasts advance to Northeast regional competition

SUFFERN — Three Monroe-Woodbury girls from the Xcel teams at Kennett’s School of Gymnastics took first place in the state’s USA Gymnastics championship competition on March 15, 16 and 17 at Rockland Community College in Suffern.
Natalie Bezdicek, 11, of Central Valley, Stella Scherbak, 10, of Highland Mills, and Allison Torres, 12, of Monroe, stood atop the podium as State Champions in their age divisions, beating hundreds of the top youth gymnasts from across the state.
Overall, Kennett’s teams in the gold and silver Xcel divisions coached by John Smales of Vernon, N.J., were recognized as the state’s highest scoring participants.
The Goshen-based gymnastics school has brought home first-place state honors for the third consecutive year.
Natalie Beers, 9, of Highland Mills, Kallan Pasciuto, 10, of Monroe, and Jael-Lucia Milano, 10, of Monroe, all finished in second place.
The New York State Team will move on to compete in the Northeast regional meet being in Shrewsbury, Mass., on May 18.
The team is comprised of the top seven scores in the state for each level, of which Beers (Silver) – 2nd out of 378 competing; Scherbak (Gold) 3rd out of 383 competing; and Torres (Platinum) 1st out of 157 competing all earned prestigious spots representing the Empire State.
Bezdicek’s and Pasciuto’s scores earned them spots on the New York State All-Star team, also competing in Massachusetts.