Jay County gymnasts want to show they are among the elite (03/10/05)

Is the third time the charm?

With the regional gymnastics meet coming up Friday, individual goals were expected to come to the forefront this week. But, after finishing second to the Delta Eagles at the Muncie Central sectional, it’s the team goal which still stands out for the Jay County Patriot gymnasts.

“Our goal is to beat Delta,” said sophomore Lacey Thornburg.

“But we also want to beat (Fort Wayne) Snider,” added senior Makenzie Knight, “because we know we can.”

Neither Jay County or Delta has much chance of moving on from the Huntington North regional — which is Friday at 6 p.m. — to the state meet as a team. Only the top two advance, and No. 3 Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger (113.425 at the Fort Wayne Concordia sectional) and sixth-ranked Fort Wayne Northrop (109.65) will be heavily favored.

Still, the Patriots want third place. They want to avenge the pair of losses to the Eagles — 103.85-103.175 at sectional and 99.4-98.5 during the regular season. And they have something else to prove as well.

“We want to become known,” said Thornburg. “We want our school’s name to become known [with the elite teams] in that area.”

One way to do so would be to finish ahead of Snider, which finished third at Concordia last with a 102.1. The sixth team at the meet will be Huntington North, which finished third behind Delta and Jay County with a score of 97.1.

Another would be send gymnasts to the state meet.

Although Jay County junior Hannah Williams and others from the Muncie Central sectional advanced to the state meet in 2003, the group was shut out last year. Every team and individual to advance to the state meet from the Huntington North regional in 2004 came from the Concordia sectional.

JCHS coach Kristin Millspaugh said it has to be a goal, not only for her Patriots, but the other teams as well, to break through this year. Along with the top two teams, the top six individuals in each event Friday night will also earn state berths.

Leading the Jay County athletes with a chance to make it to the state meet is Williams, who is looking to return after finishing 11th in the state on the balance beam as a freshman. She has a chance to go through in any or all events, as well as the all-around.

She was the all-around champion at Muncie Central last week with a 36.45, and was also the floor exercise (9.3) and uneven parallel bars (9.5) champion. She had a second-place 8.7 on the balance beam and a second-place 8.95 on the vault.

The top scores out of the Concordia sectional were: Brianna Neumann of Northrop on bars (9.45), Jeanna VanHoey of Dwenger on floor (9.8) and Juanita Nix of Dwenger on vault (9.7), balance beam (9.45) and all-around (37.775).

“I want somebody to go on,” said junior Heather Stevens, the team’s sectional and regional alternate. “That’s my goal for them, for somebody to go on to state. More than one person would be great.”

Along with Williams, senior Melissa Fifer could be in the mix on the vault as well. They both scored 8.95s with Tsukaharas last week, and Fifer plans to add a half-twist to hers this week in an effort to earn a state spot.

Another senior, Lacey Grider, is looking for a no-fall balance beam routine, which would give her chance at a state berth. She was fifth at the sectional meet with one fall, scoring an 8.05.

Sophomore, Kristin Brown, sixth on the floor last week with an 8.7, could also make some noise. She’s scored as high as a 9.2 this year.

Freshman Erika Hunt said she’s looking to improve on last week’s personal-best all-around score of 32.575, and Thornburg would like to break her top score of 8.3 on the bars. Knight, who had a personal-best 8.15 for sixth place at sectional, said she wants to finish her career with a bar routine she can be proud of.

“This is a week where we’re going to have to have more individual goals with the team goals.,” said Millspaugh. “We’re going to put it all out there and see what happens.”[[In-content Ad]]