Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Bobcats send two, Raiders send one to regions
Stonewall Jackson junior Meghan Hammel and Battlefield sophomores Mandy Brown and Katie Surface have qualified for the Northwest Regional championship. They earned their spots by placing in the top eight in multiple events last Wednesday night at the Cedar Run District gymnastics finals.
Hammel will have at least one advantage this Saturday at regions as Stonewall Jackson plays host to the meet.
She earned the distinction at districts of being the only gymnast not from home-team Osbourn Park to finish in the top four in the all-around competition; she placed fourth with a score of 36.550.
Megan McDonald (37.750), Jacquie Teets (37.025) and Kayla Deitz (36.7) rounded out first through third for OP.
Brown missed the cut in the all-around, ending up seventh (35.925) overall. However, her tallies on the vault (9.150), uneven bars (8.950) and floor exercise (9.2) secured her regional berths in those three events.
Surface advanced with a fourth-place showing on beam (9.075) and a seventh-place spot on bars (8.750).
"Last meet, I knew I scored really well, and I knew that if I just upped a couple things, I could score even higher," said Hammel after capturing third place on the floor.Her 9.525 floor score propelled the junior to regions, as she needed at least a 9.350 in what was her final event of the day.
Hammel had just watched teammates Burgandy May (8.4) and Tanya Ramseyer (8.5) put up personal bests on the floor and, given Kristen Fisher’s 8.25 score, she and Stonewall were poised to top Battlefield for third place in that event.
"It is all about presentation," Stonewall Coach Amy Romberger said of the floor exercise. "It was like, ‘You have to go out there, smile and show what you got.’"Hammel ultimately jumped, twisted, tumbled and tucked her way to within 0.025 points of first-place finishers Maura Cotter of Loudoun Valley and Deitz. She tied Teets for third place.
Stonewall bested Battlefield 34.675 to 33.600 on the floor and marked the only time the Raiders did not finish last.
Overall, Stonewall came in fourth (121.075) and Battlefield third (135.475) in the four-team competition as Osbourn Park (148.975) and Loudoun Valley (138.325) clinched regional team appearances by placing first and second.
The Raiders did miss one team goal for the event: advancing at least one other all-around gymnast to regions.
Ramseyer and Fisher competed alongside Hammel in the all-around, but both fell short. The closest either of them came to advancing was when Ramseyer’s 8.6 on vault put her in a four-way tie for ninth place. Only the top eight in each event qualified for regions, however.
Battlefield and Loudoun Valley posted scores within a few points of each other throughout the season, though the Vikings topped the Bobcats at the Aloha Classic the meet prior to districts.
While Battlefield clearly had a shot at advancing to regions as a team, Brown and Surface will still be representing the purple and black Saturday in Manassas.
"We kind of came in a little bit knowing that if we hit everything, we could go on as a team, but, if not, then as individuals," said Surface.
"We wanted to make it as a team, but we had a couple of falls and stuff," said Brown. "But we all tried our best."The Northwest Regional meet is scheduled for Feb. 9 at the Stonewall Jackson High School gymnasium and is set to begin at 4 p.m.
The state competition is slated to run the weekend of Feb. 22-23 at Tallwood High School in Virginia Beach.
You must be logged in to post a comment.