GYMNASTICS

Gymnastics: Bishop Ahr's Agarwala is 2017 GMC Female Athlete of Year

Staff Report
@MyCJ_Sports

The 2017 high school gymnastics season might be over, but Bishop Ahr's Ariyana Agarwala manages to keep winning.

Agarwala, who was named the 2017 Home News Tribune Gymnast of the Year and the GMC Fall Sports Athlete of the Year, recently took home the title of 2017 GMC Female Athlete of the Year.

The junior received 5,099 (or 82.27 percent) of the 6,198 total votes cast in an online poll featuring 16 candidates. The pool of GMC Female Athlete of the Year nominees consisted of every Home News Tribune Athlete of the Year for 2017, which included 14 different sports. 

This past season, 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.

Agarwala even stepped out of Bishop Ahr’s lineup during a couple of regular-season meets, handing her spot to her teammates. 

“I’m actually one of the captains, and I am always there to support my teammates in everything that they do,” Agarwala said. “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.”

A two-time Junior Olympian, Agarwala is the quintessential student-athlete. She takes honors classes, plays the piano and the violin, competes with her club gymnastics team and trains at Action Gymnastics in Millstone. 

“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.”