Huntington Gymnast Earns Silver Medal in NYS Championships
Huntington sophomore Zachary Teplin captured the all-around silver medal in the New York State Gymnastics Championships at West Point Military Academy, successfully battling a field of 265 opponents in a grueling test of endurance.
Teplin qualified for the state finals as a result of his performance at a series of meets sanctioned by the U.S. Olympic Committee during the regular season, which stretched from December to March. He will now advance to the Junior Olympic regional gymnastics championships April 12-13 at State College, PA. That event will draw from seven states, including New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia and WestvVirginia.
At West Point, Teplin’s silver medal in the “Level Eight” 18-year old division, helped propel his team from Gold Medal Gymnastics Center on Pulaski Road to a second place finish in the team standings. Teplin compiled a score of 69.5, just two-tenths of a point off the gold medal winner’s total.
The battle between the top two gymnasts proved to be quite exciting. Teplin started the state meet on the parallel bars where he scored an 11.8 to grab a bronze medal in that event. He moved on to the high bar where he was the only competitor at his level to successfully perform a “release” move, that involves spinning around the bar 12-feet in the air and releasing both hands for one complete pass of the body and then catching the bar at the end of the pass. The thrilling performance earned him an 11.5 and another bronze medal.
In floor exercise, Teplin nailed a personal best score of 11.5 to win his third straight bronze medal of the competition. On the pommel horse, he rolled to another seasonal personal best, with a 10.5 for a silver medal. The lack of a clean dismount on the still rings resulted in an 11.0 and prevented him from medaling, but a 13.0 in the vault produced another silver medal and the all-around silver in a very tough field.
The gymnastics scoring system can be maddening at times. A competitor can lose a tenth of a point for curling his toes! But, Teplin was heartened by being the only competitor at his level to earn five medals in the six events.
Teplin immediately went back in the gym to train for the regional championships. When the top gymnasts from the mid-Atlantic region descend on State College, the Huntington sophomore will be ready to go.
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