Pats win with season-high score (03/08/04)

MUNCIE — Scores generally get lower at the sectional meet. Apparently Jay County never got that memo.

The Patriot gymnasts broke a couple of school records and put up their highest total of the year, scoring 102.5 points at the Muncie Central sectional Saturday to win their second straight title.

Their championship score was 5.275 points higher than last season.

Jay County put three people in the top three of each event, and had the top team score in three out of the four events.

The Delta Eagles were second with 99 points, and the Huntington North Vikings were a distant third with 91.15 points. Those three teams and the top six individuals in each event and the all-around will compete at the Huntington North regional Friday at 6 p.m.

They will be joined by defending state champion Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger, Fort Wayne Carroll and Fort Wayne Northrop and the top six individuals from the Homestead sectional.

“It’s a great achievement,” said Amanda Knight. “It’s awesome that we broke our team high at this meet.

“We were prepared. We had more practice time this week on every event we had to work on. And we had fun.”

Sophomore Hannah Williams broke her second school record of the season, scoring a first-place 9.55 on the balance beam. The previous record of 9.5 was held by Dawn Ogden, who also had her record floor exercise score broken by Williams this year.

Williams won the floor title with a 9.25, and was the all-around champion by more than 1.5 points with a total of 35.6.

Williams teamed with seniors Kayla Smith and Knight for the best team balance beam total in school history with 26.55 points. Smith was third with a personal-best 8.95, and Knight was sixth with an 8.15 as they outscored every other team by more than two points on the event.

“We came in really confident, and we had fun,” said Williams, echoing Knight’s thoughts. “We practiced hard all week.”

“I think any time you come in as the defending champion there’s just a little added pressure,” said Jay County coach Kristin Rees. “I think we handled it really well, and I think we came in with a lot of confidence having beaten everybody in the regular season.”

Jay County led the entire way Saturday after opening with a 25.7 on the vault, but the balance beam could have been much different.

Melissa Fifer opened the event with some difficulty, suffering three quick falls. But the rest of the team picked her up better than could have been expected.

Smith was up next, and turned in the best performance of her career. Her 8.95 was the best score of her career by more than a half a point.

Knight looked as confident as ever as she completed a second no-fall routine, scoring an 8.15. Williams drilled both of her back tucks for her school-record number to complete the trio’s record-breaking mark.

“I think the difference today was on beam,” said Kristin Rees. “Vault and bars were OK, and then after Melissa on beam Kayla was nervous. Then they new all three had to hit.

“For Kayla over the past four seasons that would definitely have to be the highlight of her career. That’s the most pressure she’s probably been under going into beam. She nailed it and got us back on the right track.”

“I knew I had to make up for Melissa,” said Smith. “I felt really confident because I practiced beam all week long. My jumps were good today, and I hit my dismount.”

Smith made her only event of the day count in a big way, and Fifer bounced back in a big way on the floor.

The junior was the first floor competitor for Jay County and she gave the team exactly what it needed. She scored a personal-best 8.55 for sixth place, which along with Williams’ first-place score and an 8.75 from freshman Kristin Brown gave the Patriots the top team score in the event.

Fifer also had a personal-best 8.45 for sixth place as she led off the day for the team on the vault. Knight was third on the vault with an 8.65, and Williams was fourth with an 8.6 as the Patriots matched Delta for the top team score in that event.

“She could have easily shut down after beam,” said Rees of Fifer. “I was really impressed that she could do as good a floor routine as she did. We needed that. We needed her to start floor off right and she knew it.”

Delta did manage to outscore Jay County on the uneven parallel bars as the teams swept the top six spots, but not by nearly enough to overcome the Patriots outstanding beam effort.

The Eagles’ Christie Heban was first on the bars with an 8.4. Williams followed with an 8.2, Knight was fifth with a 7.95 and Brittany Bauman was sixth with a 7.45.

Delta took the other individual sectional title as Kelly Chriswell finished first on the vault with an 8.75.[[In-content Ad]]