The Trumbull High School gymnastics program has had quite the run of excellence and achievements these last two years.
Trumbull’s Eagles had another Triple Crown year as they defended their team titles at the 2025 FCIAC Gymnastics Championships and at both of the following state championship meets.
Coach Cathy McMahon’s Trumbull Eagles got their second straight Triple Crown with victories by wide margins in all three meets.
And then the Eagles performed brilliantly one more time when they placed second and were just 0.3 of point behind champion Newton North High School at the New England Championships.
Laura Guster of Staples won three of the four events to win the Ro Carlucci Award which is annually awarded to the all-around champion at the 2025 FCIAC Gymnastics Championships.
Trumbull’s Ana Pepin was the runner-up while teammates Tessa Chamberlin and Mikayla Kouble both had the third best all-around scores to lead the Eagles to the conference championship.
Kayla Algeri, Pepin, Chamberlin and Kouble all performed very well while helping Trumbull defend its state titles at the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class L Gymnastics Championships and CIAC State Open, and then that runner-up finish at the New England Championships.
Trumbull’s team score of 146.05 points at the FCIAC championships was 5.1 points more than runner-up Staples (140.95). St. Joseph placed third with 134.9 points, Darien (133.1) was fourth and Wilton (131.9) completed the top five.
Guster scored 38.05 points to win the all-around at the FCIAC Gymnastics Championships by 0.2 of a point over Pepin (37.85), who won the only event Guster did not win and was runner-up in two events.
Pepin went on to become the all-around champion at the State Open and she placed third in the all-around while leading the Eagles to second place at the New England Championships.
Guster won her three events at the FCIAC championships with scores of 9.55 on the uneven bars, 9.5 on the floor exercise, and 9.45 on the balance beam.
Pepin’s winning score of 9.65 on the vault prevented Guster (9.55) from sweeping all four events. Pepin also placed second on the uneven bars (9.4) and floor exercise (9.45) and she had the third highest score on the balance beam (9.35). Sarah Smeraglino of Fairfield Ludlowe and Darien’s Avery Hanson each had the second highest score of 9.4 on the balance beam.
Trumbull’s Chamberlin and Kouble both had the third highest all-around score of 35.85. The next three best all-around scores were accumulated Danbury’s Ruby Hill (35.45), St. Joseph’s Gialani Hernandez (35.25), and Darien’s Courtney Timmeny (35.15).
The four other gymnasts who finished among the top 10 in all-around scores included Amber Brzoska (34.65) of St. Joseph, Smeraglino (34.5) of Fairfield Ludlowe, Mikaela Snow (34.1) of Staples, and Jacquelyn Coppola (32.95) of Wilton.
Sara Renda had the third highest score on the vault (9.4), Grace Rizzo was third on the floor exercise (9.2), and Chamberlin placed third on the uneven bars (9.25) to contribute valuable points toward Trumbull’s fifth FCIAC championship.
There were 17 girls who made the 2025 All-FCIAC Gymnastics Team by having one of the top six scores in any of the four events or in the all-around at the conference championship meet.
Those 17 gymnasts who performed their way onto the All-FCIAC team were Ana Pepin, Sara Renda, Tessa Chamberlin, Mikayla Kouble, Grace Rizzo and Sally Pelligra of Trumbull; Laura Guster, Maite DePietro, and Hannah Bitsky of Staples; Danbury’s Ruby Hill and Nikki Zaloski; Darien’s Courtney Timmeny and Avery Hanson; St. Joseph’s Amber Brzoska and Gialani Hernandez; Fairfield Ludlowe’s Sarah Smeraglino; and Wilton’s Maria Ameglio.
Algeri accumulated an all-around score of 37.325 with two victories and two runner-up finishes and Pepin also won two events to lead Trumbull to its CIAC Class L state crown.
The Eagles scored 145.775 points to win by a convincing margin of 8.6 points over runner-up Southington (137.175). Norwich Free Academy placed third with 134.875 points.
Algeri was victorious on the vault (9.475) and uneven bars (9.35), and runner-up on the balance beam (9.125) and floor exercise (9.375).
Pepin won the balance beam (9.15) and floor exercise (9.475) and had the third highest scores on the vault (9.4) and uneven bars (8.85). Renda got the second highest score on the vault (9.425) for the Eagles.
A week later Pepin won the all-around to lead the Eagles to the State Open championship which secured their Triple Crown. They scored 146.325 points to win by 4.7 points over the Ledyard/Waterford/St. Bernard cooperative program, which scored 141.55 points.
Pepin’s winning all-around score of 37.775 was a half point more than Woodstock Academy’s Olivia Aleman (37.725), who placed second. Algeri had the fifth best all-around score of 36.85 at the State Open.
Coach McMahon’s Eagles put the wraps on their fantastic season by placing second at the New England Championships with their postseason-best score of 146.625 points, which was just 0.3 of a point behind champion Newtown North (146.925).
Pepin had an all-around score of 37.25 when she placed third behind champion Ella Pereira (37.55) of Killingly and Newton North’s Molly Haughton (37.3). Algeri (36.925) and Chamberlin (36.775) contributed to Trumbull’s strong finish by placing 10th and 11th, respectively, in the all-around.
2025 FCIAC Gymnastics Championships
All-Around: 1. Laura Guster, Staples, 38.05; 2. Ana Pepin, Trumbull, 37.85; 3. (tie) Tessa Chamberlin, Trumbull, and Mikayla Kouble, Trumbull, 35.85; 4. Ruby Hill, Danbury, 35.45; 5. Gialani Hernandez, St. Joseph 35.25; 6. Courtney Timmeny, Darien, 35.15; 7. Amber Brzoski, St. Joseph, 34.65; 8. Sarah Smeraglino, Fairfield Ludlowe, 34.5; 9. Mikaela Snow, Staples, 34.1; 10. Jacquelyn Coppola, Wilton, 32.95.
Vault: 1. Pepin, Trumbull, 9.65; 2. Guster, Staples, 9.55; 3. Sara Renda, Trumbull, 9.4; 4. (tie) Chamberlin, Trumbull, and Hill, Danbury, 9.2; 5. Brzoska, St. Joseph, 9.15; 6. (3-way tie) Kouble, Trumbull, and Hernandez, Danbury, and Timmeny, Darien, 9.1.
Uneven Bars: 1. Guster, Staples, 9.55; 2. Pepin, Trumbull, 9.4; 3. Chamberlin, 9.25; 4. Hernandez, St. Joseph, 8.8; 5. Maria Ameglio, Wilton, 8.7; 6. Kouble, Trumbull, 8.65.
Balance Beam: 1. Guster, Staples, 9.45; 2. (tie) Smeriglio, Fairfield Ludlowe, and Avery Hanson, Darien, 9.4; 3. Pepin, Trumbull, 9.35; 4. (tie) Kouble, Trumbull, and Hill, Danbury, 9.2; 5. Maite Di Pietro, Staples, 9.15; 6. (tie) Courtney Timmeny, Darien, and Hannah Bitsky, Staples, 9.1.
Floor Exercise: 1. Guster, Staples, 9.5; 2. Pepin, Trumbull, 9.45; 3. Grace Rizzo, Trumbull, 9.2; 4. Smeraglino, Fairfield Ludlowe, 9.0; 5. (tie) Sally Pelligra, Trumbull, and Hernandez, St. Joseph, 8.95; 6. Kouble, Trumbull, and Nikki Zaloski, Danbury, 8.9.