Jay rolls over Bluffton (02/27/07)

BLUFFTON - Monday night provided a chance to see some new faces.

With Bluffton's scores hovering around 50 all year and Jay County's gymnastics team having cleared 100 in its last competition, the result of the meet was in little doubt. So the Patriots mixed up their lineup, got everyone involved and still rolled to an 87.685-46.6 victory over the host Tigers.

Kayci Ryder picked up her first career victories, winning a pair of events. Freshmen Lexie Rowles and Kyla Baldwin also placed on varsity events for the first time.

"We are fairly comfortable with the fact that we can win and I'm able to get younger, more inexperienced people, in a meet," said JCHS coach Kristin Millspaugh of the trip to Bluffton "It's nice for them to be able to compete ... and show those routines off."

Ryder's two wins led the Patriots, who have been off since the Olympic Athletic Conference meet at Connersville Feb. 10 and will compete in the Muncie Central sectional Saturday. She posted a 7.2 to take first place on the floor exercise, and added a 7.15 to win the uneven bars.

Rowles was second on the bars at 7.025, and Baldwin followed in third with a 6.35.

"Kyla (Baldwin) did bars for the first time tonight, and that was a really good routine," said Millspaugh. "I thought she connected her whole routine well."

Fellow freshman Nadlie Runyon gave the Patriots their top score of the night as she turned in an outstanding balance beam routine for the second straight meet. She won the event by nearly two-and-a-half points with a 9.2, marking the second straight meet she scored higher than 9.0 on the event.

With the tournament up next, Runyon's beam routine has big potential. Only three gymnasts, including champion Hannah Williams (9.475) of Jay County, scored 9.0 or higher on the beam at the 2006 sectional, and an 8.625 was good enough to qualify for the state meet out of the Huntington North regional.

"I was really impressed, because the previous routines (at practice) were less than exciting," said Millspaugh. "She has a very nice beam routine. She's got high level difficulty ... That beam routine has very high potential for scoring at sectional and scoring at regional ... When she's on, she's on, there's not much middle ground."

Runyon was also third on the vault with a 7.1 behind senior Lacey Thornburg (7.8) and junior Erika Hunt (8.05). Thornburg added another second-place finish on the beam with a 6.8, followed by Hunt at 6.75.

Kristin Brown placed second on the bars (7.05), and Jenny Buckland (6.55) followed in third.

The Patriots, whose top score on the year is 101.45, enter Saturday's sectional clearly as one of the top three teams along with defending champion Huntington North (101.9) and Marion (98.4). The No. 4 team, Delta, has not scored higher than 91 this season. The top three teams and top six individuals in each event advance to the Huntington North regional.

"Our goal is to win," said Millspaugh, whose teams won sectional crowns in 2003 and '04 before finishing second each of the last two seasons. "We should easily be in the top three, but we could just as easily be third as first. ...

"We definitely have to have at least three people stay on beam ... And we have to have good bar routines ...

"We're going to have to go in with confidence. ... That will be a huge challenge at practice. ... We'll focus more on the sectional routines and what frame of mind we need to be in going into sectional."

Junior varsity

Jay County swept all four events with four different winners en route to a team score of 76. Bluffton did not have a JV team.

Kristin Brown put up the top Patriot score in a JV event, finishing with a first-place 7.25 on the vault. Jenny Buckland was close behind her with a 7.2 to win the beam.

Adding first-place scores were Dannie Grant (6.75) on the floor and Lexie Rowles (6.4) on the bars.[[In-content Ad]]