Blue Devil Girls’ Gymnastics Ready for Season

Huntington High School’s girls’ gymnastics team is ready to flip. The Blue Devils are once again combining with nearby Harborfields to field a joint team this fall. The two districts already collaborate in sponsoring girls’ and boys’ swimming and diving teams and will also be collaborating in boys’ and girls’ fencing next winter.

The team will practice for the first time in 2023 on Monday, August 21 at 8 a.m. in the south gym at Harborfields. While Harborfields has sponsored teams on the middle school and high school levels for decades, the Blue Devils haven’t offered the sport since the 1980s. There have been a few individual Huntington competitors over the years, but now that the Blue Devils have joined forces with the Tornadoes, a new set of opportunities is available to Huntington athletes.

Huntington girls who will be in grades 7-12 are eligible to participate. Those in seventh and eighth grade must qualify through the state’s Athletic Placement Process. For more information contact athletic director Jim Hoops at jhoops@hufsd.edu.

Blue Devil coach Jackie Lazzarini has many years of experience coaching gymnastics. She teaches health at Huntington High School and Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School and is determined to build the Blue Devil program.

Interested in joining Huntington’s gymnastics team? Send a message to Coach Lazzarini at jlazzarini@hufsd.edu.

Every student needs to get re-qualified by the school nurse prior to each sport season. The nurse can only clear a student-athlete who has the following forms on file:

1. Required NYS Health Examination Form (click for link)

Physical exams can be performed by private doctor or school doctor and are valid for one year.

2. Interval Health History for Sports Participation (English/Spanish) (click for link)

A new form is required for each season; must be completed by parent/guardian, signed in ink and dated within 30 days of the start of the season (July 23, 2023 or later).

3. Parent Consent Form for Athletes (English/Spanish) (click for link)

All students must submit a parent/guardian permission form to the coach on the first day of tryouts.

Those who want to participate on the girls’ gymnastics team should report to the Huntington High School nurse’s office on Thursday, August 17 at 12 noon to submit their private physical exam (if necessary) and interval health history forms.

Any student who wants a physical exam by the school doctor should report to the nurse’s office at 8 a.m. on Thursday, August 17.

Questions? Send a message to school nurse Linda Amarante at lamarante@hufsd.edu.

Practices and home meets will be held at Harborfields, which has two gyms making it easy to accommodate the gymnastics equipment.

The 2023 schedule will feature home contests against Smithtown, Babylon, East Islip and Sachem and away meets at Ward Melville, Middle Country, William Floyd/Eastport-South Manor, Longwood/Westhampton Beach, Bellport/Shoreham-Wading River, Patchogue-Medford and North Babylon.

The Huntington squad enjoyed a very successful first season after an absence of decades at the high school.

Lazzarini worked alongside Tornadoes coach Matthew Canty to develop a strong squad. Harborfields/Huntington defeated Babylon, Hauppauge, Lindenhurst, Walt Whitman, Copiague and Hampton Bays/Southampton in league meets to finish with a 6-0 league mark.

Huntington was led by seventh grader Grace Bartasi who advanced all the way to the Suffolk championships. “Grace is a young and powerful student-athlete who shows great strength and compassion for others,” Lazzarini said. “She was our top all-around gymnast.”

Sophomore Lizzy James captured first place in floor exercise at the county coaches invitational and finished third in balance beam. “Lizzy is a very dedicated, competitive and passionate leader and student-athlete,” Lazzarini said.

Junior Kaitlyn Sansiviero was another standout at the coaches invitational, placing second in vault and fourth in floor exercise. “Kaitlyn is a very passionate, hardworking, dedicated and driven student-athlete,” the coach said.

The season marked Huntington’s first girls’ gymnastics team since the 1980s. Lazzarini said it was “an amazing team and a great first year. Huntington and Harborfields mixed very well together.”

Huntington/Harborfields will jump from Suffolk League III to League II. “I predict that all of our top girls will return and I am hoping to have more Huntington girls’ trying out,” Lazzarini said.