By Kim J. Harmon

There is no ‘I’ in team?

Well, that may be a popular cliché for coaches to bark out on the sidelines, but it certainly would not apply to Kristen Landolfi, 18, who happens to be the only member of the Newtown High School gymnastics team.

Yes, a team of one.

For the past three years Landolfi has competed in the South-West Conference and competes, just like dozens of other high school gymnasts, with an eye on qualifying for the conference championship, the CIAC State Championship and the CIAC State Opens.

But she is it.

She is Newtown.

Of course, she does get plenty of support at Kinetic Kids in Middlebury, where she trains under coach Hal Rettstadt and alongside the Pomperaug High School gymnastics team (the 2003-04 CIAC Class M state champions). Landolfi – who also participated in much tougher USA gymnastics competitions – traveled with the Lady Panthers to most of their meets and invitationals.

During those meets she could earn medals in any of the four events (balance beam, floor exercises, vault or parallel bars) or the all-around, but couldn’t score as a team because in the eyes of the SWC a ‘team’ is a squad of five or more gymnasts.

Still, this year Landolfi finished seventh at the SWC championships with an 8.35 on the balance beam, 8.55 in the floor exercises, 8.5 on the vault, and 8.6 on the parallel bars for an all-around score of 34.00 and would have moved on to the CIAC Class M championships had she not blown out both the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL) in her right knee during her dismount from the parallel bars.

“It was like the saddest thing that has ever happened to me,” said Landolfi, who seems to be moving around fine but who will soon be undergoing surgery to repair the damage to her ligaments and whatever damage was done to her meniscus.

It had been a pretty tough season for the Newtown High senior, who hurt her right knee and left ankle during the summer.

“It was kind of hard for me,” she admitted. “It was hard getting back into it. I started scoring better, but I wasn’t myself at the SWCs.”

She opened the SWCs with an 8.35 on the balance beam, which took into account a fall on the dismount, which bruised her ego more than it did her body. She had some time to grouse about that before she went back out and turned in some strong performances in the floor exercises and on the vault.

Then it all came crashing down in the parallel bars.

Oddly enough, her dismount off the bars was not an awkward one … just the one that finally snapped ligaments that had been weak to begin with. Landolfi crumbled to the mat with the audible sounds of the pop still echoing in the gym and her mom – unfortunately – still videotaping up in the stands.

“It wasn’t one of my best meets,” said Landolfi, who managed to watch the tape that ignominious moment over and over again, “and for it to end like it did was just heartbreaking.”

There was quite a bit of empathy from the judges too, who did not deduct any points for Landolfi’s failure to stick the dismount and present the traditional wave.

The injury prevented Landolfi from competing in the CIAC Class M meet at Jonathan Law High School in Milford or attempting to qualify for the CIAC State Opens at Norwich Free Academy (Landolfi had qualified for the Opens in each of the last three years), the Regionals and the Senior Nationals.

She also missed out on her favorite meet, the Nonnewaug Invitational.

But at least she was able to achieve another goal – scoring her 1,000th career All-Around point. While Landolfi could not be 100% certain in what meet it actually happened (somewhere along the way, she missed the score from a meet or two), it happened early in the 2003-04 season and it is one of those accomplishments that gymnasts treasure.

“I was so psyched about it,” Landolfi said. “It’s like a reward for all the hard work that I’ve put in into gymnastics.”

And there was a lot of hard work that went into this.

Besides her regular training sessions at Kinetic Kids (three times a week, generally), she competed in high school meets and USA gymnastics meets and scarcely had time for homework or her job as a cashier at the Big Y in Newtown.

Now it is time to relax and get better.

Although Landolfi had hoped to compete in the state meets, she had no designs to compete in college. With a love of art and a desire to apply it to a career, she will begin studying textiles marketing at the University of Rhode Island this fall.

It was not a perfect end to the gymnastics career of Newtown’s team of one, but there are lots of accomplishments Landolfi can look back on.

And, of course, there is always the videotape.