USA Gymnastics

Frontier gymnastics coach Jill Wierzba gave her athletes a motto before they stepped into the Kenmore West gym to compete in the sectional championships Thursday night.

"Do better than your best," she told them.

Junior gymnast Nicole Radon took those words and put them to work, earning two career-high scores of 9.5 on the vault and floor exercise to win both events and capture the all-around Section VI title.

"I knew that it was the best I had performed," said Radon. "I stuck my double back on floor. I was really excited. I was adding up my scores but I didn't know for sure."

Radon, who improved upon her all-around second-place finish at last year's championships, was also second on the bars. Williamsville South's Lily Szafranski won the bars with an 8.9, .05 ahead of Radon.

Also helping South to a third-place team finish was Ana Reyes, who won the beam with her score of 9.15, finishing less than a tenth ahead of Lancaster's Allyson Kucewicz.

The Redskins, who were undefeated Division I champions this season, are now three-peat team title champions, scoring a 106.55 and finishing more than two points ahead of Frontier.

"We were very strong this year, but coming here today it was anyone's game," said Lancaster coach Donna Aquino.

Aquino worried that after a few falls on beam and one on floor her team might drop behind Frontier, but said some last-minute performances and a strong team effort pushed the Redskins to victory.

"It's hard to have a perfect event," said Aquino. "Hard to have a perfect meet, too. We had decent scores in our early events, but no stellar 9s. We started off strong on bars though and vaulted well."

Lancaster seventh-grader Courtney Bondanza placed second in beam, third on floor, fourth on the bars and fifth on vault, earning her silver in the all-around.

"I was pretty confident," said Bondanza, after her first Section VI meet. "On beam I was a little nervous about the placing of my hands and feet, but I just said, 'Try to go win it and stick everything.' "

The meet was a qualifier for the state championships Feb. 27 on Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. The top three in the all-around, along with the top three in the individual events, qualified for states.

Elise Konikoff of Hamburg was third in the all-around for the second year in a row. She finished second on the floor and vault.

Also qualifying for the states was Kelsey Kryszak of Frontier, who finished second on bars and third on vault.

Kryszak, said Radon, is an essential part of her success.

"We push each other," said Radon. "We laugh a lot, pray together, and pull each other up when we're down. We're inseparable."