The Falcons hosted the Witches of Salem Saturday night and came away with an impressive victory, 136.25- 126.25, led by the efforts of Roni Levine. The sophomore standout scored first place showings in the vault, uneven parallel bars, balance beam and floor exercises. Her performances in those events garnered the Falcons 36.55 points.

Coach Heather Boepple expressed great confidence in Levine’s talents.

“No surprise that Roni Levine had a great meet. She was a great contributor last year and has come back strong as a sophomore, winning the all-around both Friday and Saturday,” Boepple said.

On Friday, the Falcons defeated another young team - the Hamilton-Wenham Generals. 

The Falcons performed strongly performances in a number of events on Saturday. Eighth-grader Lauren Geissler took second in the balance beam (9.0) and third in the all around, while fellow eighth-grader Emily McPherson finished second on the uneven parallel bars (8.2). Senior captain Sarah Barry placed third in the vault and third on the balance beam.

Boepple had praise for the contributions from the entire team, noting that three great additions are eighth-graders Geissler, McPherson and Emily Knickle. She added that the team has key performers in returning upperclassmen and captains in Barry, Kelly Burns and Kerrianne Sullivan.

"Barry had strong performances on both nights. Sullivan was injured at States last year and after having surgery, we’re glad she back in the gym and contributing to the Falcons' team score,” Boepple said.

While very happy with the two wins this weekend, Boepple sees a challenging week ahead.

“We won both meets by a fairly large margin, but expect some tough competition in the coming week," she said.

The Falcons take on the Gloucester-Ipswich-Rockport co-op in Gloucester on Thursday, Jan. 13 (7:30 p.m.) and then Peabody and Masco-Lynnfield on Saturday, Jan. 15 (5:30 p.m.)