Newsday’s All-Long Island gymnastics team 2025

Newsday Gymnast of the Year: Hannah Hughes, Middle Country, Sr.

Hughes concluded her freshman year of high school as Newsday’s Gymnast of the Year, and now she will graduate having defended the honor for four consecutive seasons.

That’s the type of legacy that differentiates a great athlete from a generational one. Hughes didn’t need a dominant senior season to make clear that she’s in the latter category, but she supplied one anyway.

Hughes’ score of 9.825 on vault at the state tournament made her the first Long Islander to win three titles in the event and only the second gymnast in the state to do so since 1981.

“She was the last person in the gym, the last person to complete everything in the last year of her doing this,” coach Melissa Valentino said. “It’s a great way to end it for her.”

Hughes also placed third in the all-around at the state tournament with a score of 38.1. That result came a few months after she posted an all-around score of 38.700 at the Suffolk individual championships, breaking the county record of 38.475 held by both Ward Melville’s Cydney Crasa (2014) and Bay Shore’s Skye Harper (2016). It was the third consecutive season Hughes won the Suffolk all-around title.

But for an athlete who has achieved so much personal glory, it’s telling that Hughes couldn’t hold back tears at those November individual championships when asked about what Middle Country gymnastics meant to her.

The senior only managed four words; “My team, my family.”

She will continue her gymnastics career at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, a program that has won three Division III national titles since 2022.

Her winning ways with Middle Country may be over, but the impact she had on Long Island gymnastics last for years to come.

“She’s beautiful to watch,” Valentino said. “She has a following of people — girls from other teams — and she inspires others so that high school gymnastics can be something.

“Her name will live in our school. She can come back and see these records she broke in school and in the county.”

Nassau Gymnast of the Year: Vanessa Frullo, Syosset, Sr.

Frullo helped Syosset win its fifth straight county title. She earned the highest all-around score (37.025) at the Nassau team championships since 2008, recording a Nassau-best 9.575 on bars and 9.55 on beam.

That served as a precursor for her personal-best score of 9.775 on beam and 9.5 on bars at the state championships, where she finished third and sixth, respectively.

“Coming in, I really just wanted to hit my routines,” Frullo said after the March 1 state championship meet. “I wasn’t really expecting too much about placing or anything, I was just focused on doing my very best to end my season.”

But that’s only part of the equation for Frullo, who helped lead Syosset to its sixth Nassau title in seven seasons. The senior stepped up for a younger Syosset team that — by its lofty standards — had its question marks throughout the winter before dominating at the Nassau team championships.

Beginning with a regular-season loss to rival Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK to ending the season atop the county in almost every category, Frullo couldn’t be leaving her team behind on a higher note.

“We had a lot of pressure on us this season — it’s been a tough year with a lot of new girls learning the ropes,” Frullo said. “But we all did so much and we all progressed so much throughout the season.”

Marisa Schlossman, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK, Sr.

Schlossman represented Nassau as an all-around talent in three consecutive state championships. She scored a 36.775 at the Nassau state qualifier event and set a new personal record with a score of 9.675 on vault at the Nassau team championships. The Bridgeport commit placed 13th in the all-around at the state championships with a score of 36.1. She also placed ninth on floor exercise (9.3).

Bayla Goldberg, Smithtown, Jr.

Goldberg posted an all-around score of 36.325 to help the Bulls win their third Suffolk title in four years. At the state tournament, she won the uneven bars (9.775) and placed eighth in the all-around (37.255) and vault (9.4).

Izzy Field, Bay Shore/Islip, Sr.

Field placed seventh in the all-around at the state tournament with a score of 37.425. She also placed third in the event at the Suffolk individual championships with a score of 37.925.

Lindsey Kutchens, Lindenhurst/West Babylon, Sr.

The senior posted an all-around score of 37.8 at the Suffolk team championships in November, second only to Middle Country’s Hannah Hughes. She also placed seventh on vault (9.425) and floor exercise (9.35) at the state championships and was 14th in the all-around (35.3).

Newsday’s Coach of the Year: Jessica Berroyer, Smithtown

Berroyer guided the Bulls to their third Suffolk title in the four years at November’s team championships. Smithtown narrowly defeated Middle Country, 179.575-178.625. Berroyer’s, a third-year coach, also helped three Smithtown gymnasts qualify for the Section XI state championship team. No other Suffolk program had more than two.

With Ben Dickson