Last fall, the Barnegat High School gymnastics team surged into uncharted territory, winning seven straight competitions before losing, ultimately settling at 8-2 for the season. Considering the program’s 2-9 record of 2015, the turnaround was astonishing. The Bengals had not achieved that level of success before.

Fortunately, the squad will return much of its firepower from last year’s team. And as it opened up this week against Lacey, most things seemed to be in place as the Bengals looked to make an impact again this season.

“We have a couple of gymnasts injured right now,” said Morgan Capezzera, the team’s second-year coach, “so the start of…