July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Brown big on B-day (01/17/06)
JCHS gymnastics
Brown big on B-day (01/17/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
CAMBRIDGE CITY — Kristin Brown would have deserved a cupcake, even if it wasn’t her birthday.
Brown came up big for the Jay County gymnastics team on her 17th birthday Monday, posting a top-10 all-time balance beam score. The Patriots used that score, and an all-around sweep from Hannah Williams, to defeat the Cambridge City Lincoln Golden Eagles and the Tri High Titans with a season-high team total of 97.3.
Host Lincoln was second with 91.3 points, and Tri finished with 87.6.
Brown, whose parents were handing out birthday cupcakes after the meet, had the best day of her career on the balance beam. Thanks to her great jumps she posted an 8.55, which was good for second place on the event and tied her for the No. 10 score in Jay County history.
Coach Kristin Millspaugh said it’s Brown’s aggressiveness and ability to get so high off the beam which makes her jumps special. She has a rare combination of strength and flexibility, always getting great leg extension and toe point on all of her jumps.
“She’s a very strong jumper,” said Millspaugh, “and in high school gymnastics you can make up for a lack of tumbling skills with jumping, or vice versa. They’re pretty equal when it comes to difficulty. Somebody like her whose maybe not comfortable tumbling on beam — a lot of girls aren’t — if you have the jumping skills that she has you can get away without tumbling a lot.”
The balance beam routines were strong all around for the Patriots, as 2005 state runner-up Hannah Williams finished first. She missed her back tuck for the first time all season, but still posted an 8.9 to show just how high her numbers could soar.
Junior Lacey Thornburg and freshman Jenny Buckland had falls in their routines, but showed the ability to score in the mid-8s with Brown as well.
“I’m the most pleased with beam tonight,” Millspaugh said. “After graduating two of our sectional beam team members last year we thought beam would be our weakness this year. But tonight it was definitely our strongest event.
“They definitely knew that’s where we were going to be lacking the most and we needed to find people to step in.”
Brown’s beam score combined with strong efforts in the other three events, including a fifth-place 7.95 on the floor exercise, for a career-best 30.70 all-around total. Jay County now has four athletes who have cleared the 30-point all-around barrier as Brown joined Williams, Thornburg and Erika Hunt in that category.
And Buckland is knocking on the door.
“That’s really a sign of a pretty strong team,” said Millspaugh. “That’s more depth than I would have thought we’d have coming into this year. They’re coming along.
“I really think it is (realistic that we can compete at sectional),” she added of her squad, which won titles in 2003 and 2004 before finishing second to Delta last season. “That’s definitely going to be one of the things I focus on ... There’s no reason we can’t win the sectional again or compete for it like we always do.”
Williams continued her comeback from an early season injury as she performed a Tsukahara on vault for just the second time this year. Both of her attempts were near-perfect, giving her a first-place 9.15.
She won the floor exercise and uneven parallel bars with scores of 8.9 and 8.05 respectively despite the fact she’s still not back to doing complete routines on either event.
Thornburg posted top-five scores on a pair of events, finishing second on the bars with a 7.65 and fifth on the vault with a 7.9. Buckland was fourth on both the vault and the floor with matching scores of 8.0.
Millspaugh said she’s also seeing more confidence out of junior varsity gymnasts Larissa Butcher, Kayci Ryder, Kendra Homan and Samantha Turner, who at times have been forced into varsity action because of injuries to Heather Stevens, who is out for the season, Hunt and Williams.
“I saw a lot of improvement from those girls tonight,” said Millspaugh, pointing to several new bar dismounts. “They still just want to learn more. They’re asking to learn more.”
Hunt, who sprained her ankle at practice Thursday, will miss Wednesday’s meet at Connersville, but could return to competition at Muncie Southside Jan. 26.[[In-content Ad]]
Brown came up big for the Jay County gymnastics team on her 17th birthday Monday, posting a top-10 all-time balance beam score. The Patriots used that score, and an all-around sweep from Hannah Williams, to defeat the Cambridge City Lincoln Golden Eagles and the Tri High Titans with a season-high team total of 97.3.
Host Lincoln was second with 91.3 points, and Tri finished with 87.6.
Brown, whose parents were handing out birthday cupcakes after the meet, had the best day of her career on the balance beam. Thanks to her great jumps she posted an 8.55, which was good for second place on the event and tied her for the No. 10 score in Jay County history.
Coach Kristin Millspaugh said it’s Brown’s aggressiveness and ability to get so high off the beam which makes her jumps special. She has a rare combination of strength and flexibility, always getting great leg extension and toe point on all of her jumps.
“She’s a very strong jumper,” said Millspaugh, “and in high school gymnastics you can make up for a lack of tumbling skills with jumping, or vice versa. They’re pretty equal when it comes to difficulty. Somebody like her whose maybe not comfortable tumbling on beam — a lot of girls aren’t — if you have the jumping skills that she has you can get away without tumbling a lot.”
The balance beam routines were strong all around for the Patriots, as 2005 state runner-up Hannah Williams finished first. She missed her back tuck for the first time all season, but still posted an 8.9 to show just how high her numbers could soar.
Junior Lacey Thornburg and freshman Jenny Buckland had falls in their routines, but showed the ability to score in the mid-8s with Brown as well.
“I’m the most pleased with beam tonight,” Millspaugh said. “After graduating two of our sectional beam team members last year we thought beam would be our weakness this year. But tonight it was definitely our strongest event.
“They definitely knew that’s where we were going to be lacking the most and we needed to find people to step in.”
Brown’s beam score combined with strong efforts in the other three events, including a fifth-place 7.95 on the floor exercise, for a career-best 30.70 all-around total. Jay County now has four athletes who have cleared the 30-point all-around barrier as Brown joined Williams, Thornburg and Erika Hunt in that category.
And Buckland is knocking on the door.
“That’s really a sign of a pretty strong team,” said Millspaugh. “That’s more depth than I would have thought we’d have coming into this year. They’re coming along.
“I really think it is (realistic that we can compete at sectional),” she added of her squad, which won titles in 2003 and 2004 before finishing second to Delta last season. “That’s definitely going to be one of the things I focus on ... There’s no reason we can’t win the sectional again or compete for it like we always do.”
Williams continued her comeback from an early season injury as she performed a Tsukahara on vault for just the second time this year. Both of her attempts were near-perfect, giving her a first-place 9.15.
She won the floor exercise and uneven parallel bars with scores of 8.9 and 8.05 respectively despite the fact she’s still not back to doing complete routines on either event.
Thornburg posted top-five scores on a pair of events, finishing second on the bars with a 7.65 and fifth on the vault with a 7.9. Buckland was fourth on both the vault and the floor with matching scores of 8.0.
Millspaugh said she’s also seeing more confidence out of junior varsity gymnasts Larissa Butcher, Kayci Ryder, Kendra Homan and Samantha Turner, who at times have been forced into varsity action because of injuries to Heather Stevens, who is out for the season, Hunt and Williams.
“I saw a lot of improvement from those girls tonight,” said Millspaugh, pointing to several new bar dismounts. “They still just want to learn more. They’re asking to learn more.”
Hunt, who sprained her ankle at practice Thursday, will miss Wednesday’s meet at Connersville, but could return to competition at Muncie Southside Jan. 26.[[In-content Ad]]
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