Roster smaller but hopes high for North Allegheny gymnasts

By: John Grupp
Saturday, December 14, 2024 | 11:01 AM

The North Allegheny gymnastics team hopes to prove good things come in small packages.

The Tigers’ roster has dropped from 22 gymnasts last season — by far the biggest team in coach Nicole Bova’s 12 years — to just 11 this winter. The departures included a class of 11 seniors as well as one standout sophomore, Adriana Seese, a Level 9 gymnast who left the team to focus on club gymnastics.

“When you have a class of 11 (seniors), that’s a huge hit,” Bova said. “I’m happy because this is a good group. It’s a good number. We can focus a little bit more. They are all hard-working girls.”

Bova said last season’s large roster was uncommon. She typically has between eight and 11 gymnasts, putting this group in line with past numbers.

“I feel like we are going to have a lot of fun together,” said senior Sierra Dickert, the defending WPIAL champion in the vault in the Intermediate II Division. “That small-team bonding will go over well.”

The Tigers, who went 6-2 last season and placed fourth at the six-team WPIAL championship, return a pair of WPIAL Advanced all-around gymnasts, sophomores Hannah Seidl, who placed 10th last season, and Caroline DiRenzo (11th). They also bring back junior Sarah Patterson, a Level 9 gymnast who scored in all four events at the 2024 WPIAL team championships.

“Everyone looks like they had a great offseason,” Bova said. “They are very consistent. It is really nice.”

Bova said she wasn’t surprised when Seese, who placed sixth in the all-around in the Advanced Division at the 2024 WPIAL individual championships, decided to forego high school gymnastics in favor of her club team.

The NA coach could relate. She did the same thing in her final high school year in New Jersey two decades ago before arriving at Pitt back when she was known as Nicole Drane.

“When you are a high-level gymnast, you don’t want to risk the potential for injury, especially when college recruiters are possibly looking at you,” Bova said. “I absolutely understand it because I went through it. I was there and did it.”

Other returning gymnasts include juniors Sarah DeJonckheere, Julia Fortunato, Kirsten Karlovitz and Aditi Vadlamuri. The top newcomers are sophomore Maeve Coltz Robinson and freshman Lola Hood.

One question mark is DiRenzo, who placed seventh on the balance beam at last year’s WPIAL individual championships. She suffered a dislocated knee cap in the spring. She was cleared to resume activities in late November, but her return is uncertain.

Seidl, who placed third on vault and sixth on bars at WPIALs last season, is working to reach Level 10, the highest a gymnast can achieve before elite, or Olympic, level.

“Hannah looks great,” Bova said. “She trains year-round. She is bumping up her level in USA Gymnastics.”

Dickert had a busy offseason in her bid to repeat as the WPIAL Intermediate II vault champ.

“I’ve gotten new skills on all of the events, especially bars,” she said. “I’ve gotten a lot more skills.”

Bova said Dickert is blessed with a “beautiful” front handspring full. She performs a full twist in the air while completing her handspring, flipping forward and landing on her feet.

“It’s probably one of the best front handspring fulls I’ve ever seen,” Bova said. “She also tries a one-and-a-half. She worked on it all last year. We never made one. She’s still working on it, and it would be pretty cool.”

North Allegheny’s strength is its vault. The Tigers, who open the season Dec. 19 in quad meet with North Hills, Burrell and Hempfield, had the highest score in the event at the 2024 WPIAL team championships.

“All of these girls have a very strong vault,” Bova said. “Bars is always a struggle. That tends to be our weakest event. But we will have a full lineup, and we’ll be fine.”

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