Annual 'Cartwheel for a Cure' gymnastics meet continues to grow
All of the participants come together for a photo at the Cartwheels for a Cure gymnastics meet in Cold Spring Harbor on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Since it began in 2015, Nassau’s 10th annual "Cartwheel for a Cure" gymnastics meet continues to grow in both size and impact.
What started as a dual meet to raise awareness for cystic fibrosis has evolved into an invitational featuring all 20 of the county’s gymnastics teams. On Saturday, they joined together in Cold Spring Harbor to raise awareness and funds for both cystic fibrosis and DIPG, a type of pediatric brain cancer.
“I’m just so proud of how far this has come,” Section VIII gymnastics coordinator Kim Rhatigan said. “I think this is an example that once you plant the seed to help people, people will follow suit. People will want to be involved.”
Rhatigan and Cold Spring Harbor coach Teri Kindelmann created the event 11 years ago to support Kindelmann’s two daughters, Charlotte (13) and Matison (15), who have cystic fibrosis. Then, in 2021, the focus shifted to Madison Milio, a Massapequa girl who passed away at 9 years old after a 32-month battle with DIPG.
This year, the meet supported both causes.
“It’s overwhelming,” Kindelmann said. “To see everybody come together, laughing, having fun all in support of these two causes is really special. Both of my daughters are doing excellent health-wise, and it’s because of events like this that we can help them.”
Madison Milio’s mother, Kristen, was a gymnast at Farmingdale and coached at Sewanhaka from 1999-2007. She helped organize the meet and attended it with her family, supporting the gymnasts and helping raise funds.
“This is the first year that [Madison] would have been competing here,” Milio said. “She would have been in eighth grade at Massapequa, so this is a tough one. We learned a lot from Madison and we continue to learn from her. She was sassy, determined and motivated. She had so many of the amazing qualities that all of these gymnasts have.”
In the morning session, Abigail Thaler of Carle Place/Wheatley claimed the all-around title with a score of 35.250. She earned first-place finishes in floor (9.25) and beam (9.2) and a second-place finish on bars (8.5). Syosset won the team crown with a total score of 162.05.
“I really love how we’re competing for a good cause,” Thaler said. “There’s no real pressure here which makes it so fun. It’s great to see everybody in Nassau come together for something really important.”
“It’s not about the scores today,” added Syosset junior Arlene Osei-Pokua. “We’re here to support the cause and have fun and I think that’s what makes this meet special.”
Roslyn junior Logan Brooks, who won vault with a score of 8.75, said on top of the event’s cause, it’s a unique experience to compete against teams she wouldn’t normally see in the regular season.
“It’s really exciting to be at an event like this,” Brooks said. “A lot of us have friends on other teams that we might not get to see too often, so watching them compete and cheering them on is really nice. It’s a different environment than the one we normally compete in.”
In the afternoon session, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK freshman Sofia Rosamillia earned the all-around title with a score of 34.2, including a first-place finish (9.0) on bars and a 9.0 score on floor. Her performance helped her team to a first-place team finish with a total score of 166.275.
“I try not to get ahead of myself, but I also try to keep up the energy throughout my own and my teammates’ events and contribute that excitement to the rest of my team,” Rosamillia said. “It’s easy to do at a meet like this because it’s such a fun environment and we all want to support each other.”
As a tight-knit community, Rhatigan said the event ultimately speaks to the culture of gymnastics: being there for one another no matter what.
“We take care of our own,” Rhatigan said. “When Madison got sick, everybody rallied. We needed to support Kristen because she was one of us. She was a fellow gymnast, a fellow coach. We, as a gymnastics community, needed to be that web — that support — for her and Teri and for the rest of our community.”
Tess Ferguson is a reporter on Newsday's high school sports staff. She joined the team after graduating with a journalism degree from Ithaca College in 2025.
