Bishop Ahr's Agarwala is HNT Gymnast of the Year

Ariyana Agarwala is an uncommonly driven gymnast who is laser focused on vaulting over the competition and capturing a state individual title next fall.

It is not in her nature to step out – not in the floor exercise and certainly not for a meet. 

But, that’s exactly what the junior did this past season.

The Home News Tribune Greater Middlesex Conference Gymnast of the Year stepped out of Bishop Ahr’s lineup during a couple of the Trojans’ regular-season meets, handing her spot to her teammates. It was a selfless act borne out of the desire to allow them a chance to achieve the scores they need in the vault, bars, beam and/or floor to qualify for the sectionals.

“I’m actually one of the captains,” Agarwala said, “and I am always there to support my teammates in everything that they do. Whenever they need help with anything in gymnastics or out of gymnastics, I am there to help them. I didn’t mind sitting out to let them shine a bit.”

“I think it speaks volumes because someone who’s at that level, scoring a 38 all-around, would like to compete in all the competitions,” coach Brant Lutska said. “Yet, she understood the reasoning and why we had to do it. She never questioned, ever, why she wasn’t in the lineup for one of the meets or whatnot. She never questioned it.”

Agarwala was the unquestioned leader and catalyst for a team that won its third straight North Jersey  Section 2 title. She set the tone, capturing the all-around competition for the third year in a row with a total of 38.525 points. Agarwala recorded the highest score in the bars, beam and vault, and placed second in the floor exercise behind teammate and constant practice competitor, Skylar Davisson.

Bishop Ahr also won its third consecutive GMC team title, and Agarwala captured her third straight all-around title with gold medals in the floor, uneven bars and vault and a silver on the beam.

Perhaps her impressive performance, however, came at the state individual competition. Agarwala started off with a 10th-place finish on the bars (9.375) but fell on the beam.

It could have been a devastating turn of events for a gymnast with a shot at finishing in the top three. She summoned all of her resolve and put the fall behind her. She ended up taking fifth on the floor (9.550) and seventh in the vault (9.675). It all added up to a sixth-place finish overall (37.800).

“She didn’t give up,and that’s a wonderful attribute for a kid to be able to continue to give it everything that you have,” Lutska said. “You have to realize, these kids are extremely focused. Gymnastics, it’s not only a difficult sport, but it’s a very mental sport. You have to be mentally prepared for the good, the bad -- anything that comes up to be ready for it. That happened and she still did very well.”

Then again, Agarwala, a two-time Junior Olympian, has excelled in everything she’s put her heart into: Studying for honors classes, playing the piano and the violin, playing on her club gymnastics team, training at Action Gymnastics in Millstone. Fencing would have made that list, but she’s put it on the backburner to focus on gymnastics. 

She even took an anatomy and physiology class at Brown University, where she helped dissect a human cadaver. 

“It was amazing to see the diseased part of the human body and a normal part of the human body and compare them -- a smoker’s lung compared to a healthy lung, an alcoholic’s liver compared to a regular liver,” Agarwala said. “It was a very eye-opening experience.”

And although she already has affixed her gaze at a state title next fall, she knows there’s a lot of hard work to put in between now and then. She views those grueling, marathon practice sessions philosophically. They’ve taught her a lot about life.

“You see with practice, it can relate to schoolwork, it can relate to anything that you’re doing,” she said. “The more hard work you put in, it will equal the result you will get back.”

2017 All-GMC  gymnastics 

All-Around - Ariyana Agarwala, Bishop Ahr; Vault - Troi Marshal, Piscataway; Uneven Bars - Kaitlyn Adlassnig, Bishop Ahr; Balance Beam - Jennifer Pasram, Old Bridge; Floor Exercise - Allison Graves, South Plainfield; At Large - Skylar Davisson, Bishop Ahr; At Large - Amanda DiBartolo, South Brunswick; At Large - Kristi Maher, South Plainfield; At Large - Magdalyn McGlyn, East Brunswick; At Large - Gabrielle McSweeney, East Brunswick; At Large - Upasna Parikh, Bishop Ahr; At Large - Jemma Scalera, South Plainfield.

Coach of the Year - Noelle Hartje, Piscataway

Sportsmanship - South Brunswick High School

Assistant Coach of the Year - Mike Canzano, Old Bridge

Conference Champion – Bishop Ahr

Conference Runner-Up – Old Bridge