Delta downed (02/07/06)

If the Patriots are going to regain their sectional crown, they’ll have to go through the Delta Eagles. Monday night they proved it could happen.

In a battle of the teams which have accounted for the last three Muncie Central sectional titles, Jay County’s gymnasts topped Delta 99.475-93.9.

“I was really hoping to be in the 100s again being the first home meet,” said Jay County coach Kristin Millspaugh, whose team won sectional titles in 2003 and ’04 before finishing second to the Eagles last season. “But we were really close. We obviously wanted to beat Delta.”

The Eagles competed without a pair of regulars, with Erin Evans missing the meet because of an illness and Kelli Chriswell for personal reasons.

Chriswell, Delta’s top gymnast, has battled injuries all season and was only scheduled to compete on the uneven parallel bars and the balance beam. She led the Eagles to their sectional title last year, finishing second behind Jay County’s Hannah Williams in the all-around competition, first on balance beam, second on bars and floor exercise and fourth on vault.

Jay County knows injuries all too well as it has lost senior Heather Stevens for the season with a knee injury, and is still working Erika Hunt back to full strength after she suffered an ankle sprain a few weeks ago. Hunt competed on three out of four events Monday.

Hannah Williams also missed time with an ankle sprain earlier in the year, but she showed the Eagle team and the Patriot fans that she is back to full strength.

In her team’s first home meet of the year Williams put up her best ever all-around score, breaking 37 for the first time with a 37.025. It is the second-best all-around score in school history, trailing only Dawn Ogden’s 37.5.

Williams took first place in every event with a top score of 9.4 on the beam, where she was the state runner-up a year ago.

She’s back to working all of her top skills in competition, hitting a double back on the floor for a 9.375 and the Tsukahara on vault for a 9.3.

She also got around on a pair of Giants for an 8.95 on the bars.

“She’s just consistent,” said Millspaugh of Williams, whose top score prior to this season was a 36.6 at the 2005 regional meet. “She does have more of the endurance back on bars ... She’s a lot closer to full strength. She still has times when landings hurt ... but she’s able to get through everything really well.”

Williams is one of just 14 gymnasts who have scored 37 or higher thus far this season.

Sara Fry of Delta took second place on three events — floor (8.675), vault (8.65) and bars (7.65).

She was third on the beam with an 8.2.

The Eagles’ Mandy Motsenbocker was second on the beam (8.5) and third on the floor (8.375), and Laurie Byron took third on bars (7.0).

Following Williams with a big effort for the Patriots was freshman Jenny Buckland, who was among the team’s top three on three out of four events.

Despite a fall on the balance beam she posted a career-best 7.575 for second on the team. She also trailed Williams with an 8.225 on the floor exercise, and was third on the team with a 6.9 on bars.

Her all-around score of 30.4 was also a personal best, more than six points better than her 24.15 at the season’s opening meet.

“Jenny broke 30 all-around for the first time tonight, which has been a goal for her all season,” said Millspaugh. “She was very excited. All four of her events were fairly solid tonight.

“She’s learning to be more consistent. She’s learning to control some of the little things that go wrong in the routines.”

Hunt, competing on every event except floor, turned in a no-fall balance beam routine to take second place with a 7.65 on bars. She was the only Patriot other than Williams to place in the top three, finishing third on the vault as well with an 8.45.

Lacey Thornburg was third on the team with an 8.25 on the vault, and Kristin Brown posted the No. 3 Jay County score on the floor with an 8.1.[[In-content Ad]]