When the gymnastics season first started, Fox Chapel Area gymnastics coach Nadine DeLeo was upbeat about the team’s potential. She had more athletes than the year before, four talented senior leaders, and young, promising performers with extensive club experience.
Her biggest concern was staying injury-free, something that had plagued the team in the past. Fortunately, the 2024-2025 team members stayed healthy, and the team had one of its best seasons in a few years.
Six athletes qualified for the at the WPIAL Class 3A championships, and the squad achieved its highest single-meet team score in recent years. Coach DeLeo credits the combination of experience, hard work, and great leadership from the seniors.
“All of the seniors had some of their highest scores this season,” she says. “Riley Hourvitz strengthened the team’s scores on floor, vault, and bars, while Lilah Blyth was consistent for us on vault and bars. Gina Fitzsimmons added points to the floor scores, and Addy Kress was a consistent competitor on the beam and floor.”
WPIAL Qualifiers
At WPIALs, the Foxes were represented Riley (vault), Lilah (vault), and sophomores Clara Mah (floor, vault, beam, and bars), and Madison Cook (vault/floor). Two gymnasts opted of the competition.
Clara was the Foxes’ standout performer at the championships. She placed in the top 10 in the advanced division in every event. She is ranked at club Level 9 (out of 10), according to USA Gymnastics standards.
“Clara is a hard worker,” says coach DeLeo, who is in her 10th year at the helm of Fox Chapel Area’s program. “She works out all year because gymnastics is her main sport. She’s our only all-around performer and is a very talented, artistic gymnast with clean performances. It’s beautiful to watch her on the floor and beam, her two best events.
“Going into WPIALs, I expected her to score high on the floor and beam. She did step out of bounds on the floor, which dropped her to a 9.5 score and a fourth-place finish, but without that deduction, she would have medaled.”
“I think this year I improved the most on the floor,” Clara says. “That has been my most consistent event. I wasn’t really going into WPIALs expecting to win but just looking clean and sharp.”
With aspirations of competing at the collegiate level, Clara explains, “For college, I know it’s best if you have an all-around score. I want to work on my upper body, especially for the bars, because to be good, you need to have that event.”
Madison, another excellent performer, also has a strong background in club gymnastics. This was her first experience competing for the Foxes due to an injury from competitive cheer in her freshman year. She believes her improvement was significant.
“I think my best performance I had all year was at WPIALs (floor),” says Madison, who also competed in the vault. “I was able to put in more difficult tumbling, turns, jumps, and dance. My overall goal for next year is to work toward getting into the top six all-around.”
Looking toward the future, coach DeLeo expects to see continued progress from junior Emily Kintner and freshmen Ilaria Conte and Amalia Guttridge.
“We had incredible chemistry this year,” says coach DeLeo. “The team was very cohesive, talented, and supportive of each other. Losing four seniors will be hard in many ways; however, several girls plan to be on the team next year and hopefully we can pick up a few others who have competed in the past.”