The Battlefield High School girls gymnastics team entered the Class 6 state championship in February determined to break a three-year streak of second-place finishes.
"We were tired of being the bridesmaids. This has been four years in the making for these seniors,” said Mary Henry, Battlefield’s head coach.
At Kellum High School in Virginia Beach, the competition was as close as it could be between the two top competitors: Fairfax’s Robinson Secondary School and undefeated Battlefield.
Robinson beat Battlefield in the vault and the uneven bars by only half a point. Battlefield outscored Robinson in the balance beam and dominated in the floor exercises. But then Robinson twice challenged points, and each time was awarded two more.
That left the final score in doubt. Henry told her team to refrain from celebrating until the final scores were released. But once the scores were finalized, every Bobcat cried for joy.
The outcome was decided by only three-tenths of a point. The Bobcats defeated Robinson 147.950 to 147.650 to become state champions.
Henry credited the success to sophomores Samantha Tekampe and Chloe Lydiate and junior Kayla Henley, whose high scores helped take the Bobcats over the line. She thanks volunteer assistant coach, Emily Ignacio, a former Battlefield “Gymcat.” But mainly she credits her four “super seniors,” who continued to earn top scores for the Bobcats and led the team to victory.
“Our one goal in mind was to win,” said senior Giselle Forman of Gainesville, a top competitor in vault, bars and beam.
Forman has been practicing gymnastics since she was 6, when teammate Ryan Grothoff invited her to join Bull Run Academy of Gymnastics (BRAG) in Vint Hill, the school Henry owns. She competed with the academy until 2024, her sophomore year.
Grothoff (vault, beam and floor) started tumbling at 3, and continued through her freshman year, until competing exclusively with Battlefield. She agreed with Forman about the team’s trajectory. “I think we took this year a lot more seriously.”
“Our freshman year we were just happy to be there [competing at states],” said senior Marissa Perilla of Dominion Valley. Perilla competed in floor exercises as a gymnast, although cheerleading is her main sport.
Senior Addison Fitzer started club gymnastics in Illinois, then transferred to GMS Gymnastics in Manassas, competing there until her junior year.
Battlefield’s strength came from its depth. Its 2025-26 team consisted of 17 girls, requiring Henry to find two additional uniforms. “[We had] a lot of talent this year,” Grothoff said.
Gymnastics tends to be an individual sport, and many high school teams rely on a few star club gymnasts to carry them, even as clubs often take precedence over VHSL. However, the Battlefield team consisted mainly of girls who no longer competed elsewhere and instead dedicated themselves to Battlefield’s team.
It is not uncommon for gymnasts to leave the sport as they age. Club teams require 20 hours of practice a week, which is hard on maturing bodies, making injuries more common.
“[The high school team has been] really good for me,” Grothoff said. “I could still do what I love but I can still do other things.” However, she admitted, “it’s really hard to do gymnastics once you quit gymnastics.”
The girls practiced even over the summer. Several took part-time jobs teaching gymnastics, and they doubled down during the season.
Seniors warned their teammates that the post season would be tough. “They were undefeated,” Fitzer said. “We had to keep reminding them: You do have to work hard for this. Show up and show out.”
Forman said it was important for the seniors to be leaders. “As seniors we’ve been through this. We knew what it was like to get second, and we know what it feels like.”
The juniors hope to continue their team’s success. “Now we are almost expected to keep our title, to keep the streak going,” said Henley, a rising captain.
And all the girls trusted Henry to prepare, encourage and ground them. “She wanted it as much as we did,” Grothoff said.
Henry, who is 56, said there were fewer opportunities for girls to play sports when she was growing up, but her mother introduced her to sports at the YMCA. She began gymnastics at 5, and made a competitive team at 7.
Gymnastics followed her throughout her life. She coached gymnastics or served as a program director in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and California, but also in Chile and in Okinawa, Japan, when her husband was stationed overseas.
She moved to Haymarket in 2010 with her family and began coaching at Battlefield in 2012, before she opened the academy in 2014. “I’ve never seen a state as competitive as Virginia,” Henry said. “You have to be good to win Virginia States either individually or as a team.”
Henry continues to coach at Battlefield because she enjoys the team’s camaraderie. The girls feel the same. “Winning as a team is…so much better,” the girls said in unison.
“Doing it was amazing – especially with these three girls,” Forman said. “There were a lot of tears.”
Stacy Shaw is an award-winning journalist. She is the editor of Haymarket/Gainesville Lifestyle Magazine and publisher/owner of the local news site Bristow Beat.com. InsideNoVa Sports Editor David Fawcett contributed to this article.
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