Bright debut (12/14/06)

Jay County's gymnastics team got off to a good start Wednesday. Now it will have nearly a month to make it even better.

The host Patriots put up a score of 96.35, easily defeating the visiting Heritage Patriots (69.45). Eastbrook's Katie Cragun also competed, winning three events and taking first in the all-round.

With injuries side-lining two seniors, Jay County scored just an 82.15 at last season's opening meet at Heritage. In its first competition with a full roster in mid-January it had a 97.05, and improved all the way to scores of 99.75 at the Muncie Central sectional and 100.6 at the Huntington North regional.

The team has 23 days off before returning to competition at Richmond Saturday, Jan. 6.

"I'm very pleased with our first meet of the season," said JCHS coach Kristin Millspaugh, who was without returning varsity sophomore Jenny Buckland because of an ankle injury. "I really am excited. With what we lost to graduation last year I'm not sure the expectation was there for us to be as good as we were last year. And by the end of the season we can be as good as we were last year.

"We have more depth than we did last year, and we especially will have more depth by the middle of the season."

Freshman Nadlie Runyon turned in the only Jay County win of the night on the balance beam. She had a near-fall on one of her jumps, but was able to reel her body in, stay on the beam and hit a back handspring for a career-opening score of 8.6.

Cragun took the remaining events - vault (8.5), uneven bars (8.4) and floor exercise (8.85) - and put up a winning all-around score of 33.9. She and Jay County shut out Heritage from getting anyone in the top three.

Runyon narrowly missed another victory as she finished just behind Cragun on the floor with an 8.75.

"I'm encouraged by what I saw out of her especially tonight," said Millspaugh after Runyon finished second all-around at 32.9. "As a freshman, I think she surprised herself even with the scores that she got and where she fell amongst the other girls.

"Her routines just need to be adapted to high school. She had the parts, she just didn't have them put together the way she needed to for a high school routine."

Senior Lacey Thornburg followed Runyon with a pair of second-place finishes. She posted an 8.05 on the bars and an 8.2 on the vault, and was third in the all-around with a 31.45 total.

Thornburg earned her vault score by hitting a Tsukahara on her first attempt. It's something she has tried sparingly since suffering a broken foot during her freshman season.

"That's really exciting," said Millspaugh. "The first meet she competed it she hurt her foot and had to have surgery, and I think she might have just thrown it once spontaneously her sophomore year. ... I think she's overcome her fears."

Senior Kristin Brown and junior Erika Hunt tied for third behind Thornburg at 7.85 on the bars and each added third-place efforts in other events.

Brown was just a tenth of a point behind Cragun on the beam with a no-fall 8.05. She also took third place on the floor at 7.8.

Hunt posted an 8.15 for third place on the vault.

"What this meet did for me the most is tell me what we need to work on at practice now," said Millspaugh, adding that several gymnasts experimented with new elements. "That's why I like having a meet this early."

Junior varsity

Jay County's junior varsity score also was good enough to beat the Heritage varsity as it totaled 76.85 points.

Freshman Lexie Rowles debuted with two victories. She had a no-fall balance beam routine for a winning score of 7.3, and was first on the vault with a 7.15.

"Lexie was a really nice surprise," said Millspaugh. "She wasn't even going to try out to do beam tonight. ... She ended up being sixth (on the team) when she tried out. I think she's got some potential that she doesn't realize she has."

Kayci Ryder won the uneven bars at 7.05, and Kendra Homan finished first on the floor exercise at 6.8.[[In-content Ad]]