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Lancaster's Castiglione flying into the school's gymnastics record book

Posted at 11:38 PM, Oct 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-20 23:38:25-04

Makenzie Castiglione can't imagine her life without gymnastics.

"It's my favorite sport in the world," Castiglione said. "I wouldn't trade the past 13 years for anything."

It's a love that began at the age of three.

Nearly a decade and a half later, she's a junior at Lancaster who's slowly putting her name in the school record books.

"She definitely will leave a legacy on this program," said Lancaster gymnastics coach Donna Aquino.

Makenzie leads all Section VI teams with the highest all-around score, she leads her own team in scoring, and most recently broke the Lancaster record on uneven bars with a 9.55. 

"For her to hit it was great," Aquino said. "But when a judge rewards her, it's just awesome."

That's not all.

Makenzie was just two-hundreths of a point from breaking the school's balance beam record. It's quite an accomplishment when you look at how difficult the event is.

"It's (The beam) 4 inches wide and you're doing extremely difficult tricks," Makenzie explained. "It's an amazing feeling just knowing that you came that close and it's really rewarding seeing how much your hard work pays off."

Makenzie has experienced everything from qualifying for state to foot injuries that kept her from competing.

But all of the experiences are what has made her who she is today. She's a gymnast who's passion stems from going out there and having fun.

"Keeping a light hearted mood is the key to keep yourself going and doing your best," she said. "It's time to just show them what you got."

 

SUPER 7 ATHLETES:

1. Makenzie Castiglione, Lancaster gymnastics

2. Bryce Schiltz, East Aurora soccer: In a win over Lake Shore last week, Schiltz scored eight goals in a span of four days. Three of those goals were against Lake Shore and gave him his 66th career goal which broke a 21-year standing record for career goals at East Aurora. He has since added even more goals.

3. Matt Myers, West Seneca West QB: Myers compiled nearly 400 all-purpose yards in the team's win over West Seneca East last Friday. Myers passed for nearly 275 yards in that game and broke a school record for most passing yards in a season.

4. Tommy Appenheimer, Cardinal O'Hara cross country: Appenheimer came up big in one of the team's biggest meets in New York State. He finished 5th overall in the AAA-2 Large School race at the McQuaid Invitational last weekend with a time of 15:35.

5. Jacob Sarow, Akron RB: Sarow scored all six touchdowns for the Tigers in their 42-0 win over Eden/North Collins last Friday. He wound up rushing for more than 300 yards on 29 carries.

6. Cleveland Hill rushers: We normally don't honor units but the Eagles rushers were pretty much unstoppable in a win over JFK last week. Ryan Majerowski, Javon Thomas and Aaron Whaler all rushed for more than 100 yards each and combined for 338 yards on the ground.

7. Nic Bruce, Orchard Park WR: Bruce recorded three touchdowns in the team's win over Jamestown last week that helped clinch a playoff spot. He ended the day with four catches for 108 yards.