Gymnasts post strong scores in opener

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The Patriots’ season was supposed to get underway two weeks ago.

Because of illnesses, they were forced to just have another practice — albeit a judged one.

The early evaluation helped.

Jay County High School’s gymnastics team finally got its season underway Thursday and improved its score by more than three full points with a 103.175-74.25 win over the Eagles of Cambridge City Lincoln.

“That is a really good start to the year,” said JCHS coach Jill Ranly, whose team didn’t break 100 in that judged practice on Jan. 3. “Good is not the right word for it; Amazing. How about that?”

Jay County swept the top three spots in every event, and began the meet with a pair of career-best scores. Riley Leavell, second to go on the apparatus, earned an 8.45 for her quarter on, three-quarter off. She was runner-up to Halle Hill’s 8.9. Hill, a junior, was making her varsity debut.

“We’ve been working on perfecting our vaults and we’re not really where we want to be,” Ranly said. “Riley had an awesome vault so it was nice to see her get that (personal best).”

Karlie Bullard was third with an 8.375. Kenzie Ring (8.35) and Randi Ferguson (7.8) also competed in the event.

Moving over to uneven bars, Ring earned the top score with an 8.375, and Hill earned 8.075. Bullard’s 7.6 was third, and Leavell was fourth with 6.8. The 24.05 total for the event was an improvement from two weeks earlier, and Ranly is confident those scores can rise even more.

“Last time, when we had our mock meet, we had nowhere to go but up for bars,” she said. “We had big improvements but we have a lot more to show on bars yet.”

Hill picked up her second first-place finish by scoring 9.0 on vault despite falling. Her routine was clean otherwise, and she edged a career-best Bullard effort by 0.075 for the top spot.

“Potential for a huge score there,” Ranly said, noting Bullard’s routine was exceptional as well. Ring had one fall and scored 8.0. Leavell totaled 7.25 and Ferguson earned 6.6.

The floor exercise was the best event for Jay County as it scored 27.475 as a team. Hill led the way with a 9.55 — all of her scores were career bests — to place first, and Bullard also eclipsed the 9.0 mark with a score of 9.2 to finish runner-up. Ring’s career-best score of 8.725 was third, ahead of Leavell (7.925) and Ferguson (7.875).

“I told Kenzie before she went out, she was shooting for a 9.0 on floor, I said ‘Make it your day,’” Ranly said. “Eight-seven-five is pretty close. She’s working on getting that score up there where it should be too.”

In the all-around competition, Hill was first with 35.525. Bullard totaled 34.1 for second and Ring was one-tenth of a point away from tying her career best score of 33.55. Leavell was fourth at 30.425.

“They had a lot of fun,” Ranly said. “We had a focus this week on doing our thing and doing it the way we wanted to do it. They just really had fun tonight and it worked.

“They worked together as a team. This was all about being a team today. Nobody was in it for their own individual color of ribbon."