Patriots win first OAC championship (02/14/05)

CONNERSVILLE — Not even Kristin Gilley’s two Olympic Athletic Conference records were enough to stop Jay County this time.

The Patriot gymnastics team snapped the Connersville Spartans’ reign, winning its first OAC title with an even 100 points. The seven-time defending champion Spartans were second with 98.55, and Muncie Southside was a distant third with 73.75.

Connersville had won 14 out of the last 15 OAC titles, with only Lafayette Harrison breaking the run in 1997.

“My sophomore year when I started this was our goal, but we could never beat them,” said senior Melissa Fifer.

“It’s what we’ve wanted for a long time,” added junior Hannah Williams.

“I was really impressed,” said coach Kristin Millspaugh. “The first half of the day it was looking like we might not pull it off, but the mental toughness was what did it. They concentrated and did the best routines they could instead of focusing on the scores they were seeing.

“I was proud of them for hanging in there.”

Jay County won the title despite Connersville’s Gilley winning every event, including a conference record uneven parallel bars score of 9.45 and a conference record all-around total of 36.85. It also trailed by more than a point with just one event to go, but made all of it up on the final event.

The Patriots headed to the floor exercise on the last rotation, while Connersville took to the balance beam. And, although Gilley took the beam title with a 9.1, the Spartans could only watch the title slip away.

Williams capped five outstanding efforts on the floor to complete the Jay County comeback. She nailed her double-back on her opening pass, scoring a second-place 9.0.

Kristin Brown had a solid overall routine for a third-place 8.6, and Erika Hunt hit the full twist on her opening pass to add an 8.35.

The trio combined for a total floor score of 25.95, which was 1.05 points better than the Spartans’ floor score. More importantly, it bettered their beam score by 2.65 points to lift the Patriots to the team title.

“I was kind of shocked,” said Lacey Grider of her feelings when the total team scores were posted. “I thought they were going to beat us because they were ahead of us on everything.”

“I told them before floor that I really thought we had the best floor routines of anybody ... and it was to our advantage to go last,” said Millspaugh.

Gilley and Williams went one-two in every event, with the Connersville sophomore posting scores of 9.25 on the vault, 9.1 on the balance beam and 9.05 on the floor. Williams added an 8.85 on the vault, 8.6 on the beam and 8.55 on the bars for a second-place 35.0 all-around total.

Hunt finished third in the all-around competition with a 31.55. Fifer reached the podium with a third-place 8.65 on the vault, and Lacey Grider added a third-place 8.1 on the balance beam.

The only Spartan to join Gilley on the podium was Courtney Hurst, who was third on the bars with a 7.9.

Fifer had the No. 3 score for Jay County on the balance beam with a 7.9, and Hunt picked up the third spot on the vault with an 8.15.

“We were just pretty solid everywhere,” said Millspaugh. “I’m not disappointed in a single routine. I think everything we worked on in practice they put in the routines today.

“We had a good day. It should be a big confidence builder for sectional too. I think when you set goals and meet them you get fired up for the next thing that’s coming along.”[[In-content Ad]]