Patriots post high score (01/28/05)

PORTLAND — There wasn’t much competition for them Thursday, but that didn’t mean the Jay County gymnasts were going to relax.

The Patriots put up their best score of the season against a short-handed Muncie Southside squad, easily winning the meet 100.2-65.9.

They topped the century mark for the first time this year as two gymnasts earned their first wins of the year and another scored varsity points for the first time in her career.

“That means a lot for our confidence,” said coach Kristin Millspaugh. “One-hundred has been the goal since the beginning of the season.”

The meet also served as a warm-up for Saturday, when the Patriots will try to take down the No. 15 New Castle Trojans. New Castle finished second just ahead of Jay County at the Valparaiso Invitational earlier this year.

“I think it’s really good, especially this early in the season,” said senior Sarah Ullom of breaking 100. “It shows that we can be strong and we’re just going to continue to get stronger as we go.”

The Rebels had just four gymnasts and no chance to keep up with the Patriots, who got matching first-place efforts from senior Makenzie Knight and sophomore Lacey Thornburg on the uneven parallel bars. The pair scored matching 7.75s to tie for first, edging teammate Hannah Williams (7.7).

Junior Heather Stevens, who was competing on the varsity level for the first time, also came up big with a third-place 8.0 on the floor exercise.

“(It feels) good,” said Stevens. “I’ve never had an eight, ever, before, so that’s really exciting.

“(It’s) the little things,” she added, discussing keeping her legs straight and feet together, “because I even fell and I put my hands down, but the little things helped.”

Williams came through with first-place scores in everything except the bars. She was first on the vault with a 9.05 and the balance beam with an 8.95.

She hit her back tuck on the beam, but it was her floor exercise which was even better. She nailed her double back on her first tumbling pass, putting up her best floor score of the year with a 9.2.

“I practiced a lot of double backs, but I never landed any this week,” said Williams. “It was kind of a surprise.”

Kristin Brown finished second for the Patriots, who swept the top three spots in every event, with an 8.35.

Freshman Erika Hunt finished in third in every event except the floor. She had an 8.55 on the vault, a 7.95 on the beam and a 6.95 on the bars.

Lacey Grider recovered from a shaky night on the beam last week against Connersville. She looked much stronger on the beam versus the Rebels and finished second with an 8.05.

Melissa Fifer landed both of her attempts at the Tsukahara on the vault for the first time, scoring a second-place 8.9.

“Practice this week has helped,” said Grider, pointing to a full day of floor work Tuesday. “We’ve done more endurance, more tumbling.”

“I was very excited because I’ve been trying at every meet,” said Fifer of landing both vault attempts. “I usually hit the first one, but not the second one.

“I guess I focused more tonight because I didn’t think I was going to get it because warm-ups weren’t very good. ... That was my high point of the night.”

Junior varsity

Kristin Brown accounted for two of the JV team’s victories as it outscored the Southside varsity by more than 10 points with a score of 76.15.

Brown was first on the balance beam with a 7.4, and also won the JV bars with a 6.4. Lacey Grider posted the top JV score with an 8.05 on the floor, which would have been good for the No. 3 varsity score.

Sara Ullom added a win on the vault with a 7.95.[[In-content Ad]]