Relaxed Patriots pound Richmond (02/19/04)

PORTLAND — The injuries — both the nagging little ones and the season-ending variety — had been piling up. Then there was the always nerve-wracking Olympic Athletic Conference meet and the battle with Connersville.

It was about time the Jay County gymnastics team got to relax just a little.

The Patriots cruised to an easy 97.05-84.45 victory over the Richmond Red Devils Wednesday.

Jay County worked on getting healthy Wednesday, knowing that it will need everyone at full strength when it tries for its second straight sectional title in a few weeks. The team will already be without junior Lacey Grider (torn ACL and meniscus) and Lacey Thornburg (broken foot).

“We pulled a lot of the difficulty out to save the beginnings of some little injuries we’ve been having,” said Jay County coach Kristin Rees, referring to Hannah Williams’ ankle and Brittany Bauman’s knee among other recent bumps and bruises. “With the difficulty we’ve taken out on floor and vault we’ve added some things on bars.”

Despite pulling back on some of the high-impact parts of her routines, Williams was still the night’s top gymnast. She won three of four events, and edged Brittany Dixon of the Red Devils (33.2) for the all-around title with a 33.7 overall score.

Even without some of the difficulty she normally uses, Williams still did very well on the floor exercise with a 9.25. She also won the balance beam with an 8.3.

She and Makenzie Knight both added some new tricks in their uneven parallel bar routines. Williams impressed the Jay County faithful with a giant, leading to her first-place 7.7.

Dixon took the only victory of the night for the Red Devils on the vault with an 8.8. She was second on the floor and beam with scores of 8.85 and 8.15 respectively, and took tied for third on the bars with a 7.4.

Amanda Knight trailed Dixon on the vault with an 8.55, sticking the landing on both of her attempts. Williams was next in third place with an 8.45, and Brittany Bauman was right behind as the third Patriot scorer with an 8.4.

Jay County did not have a typical balance beam night, with only Amanda Knight staying on without a fall. She finished third behind Williams and Dixon with a 7.7.

Melissa Fifer was next for the Patriots with a 6.95.

“We weren’t as solid on beam as we have been the last few meets,” said Rees.

Knight again gave the Patriots their No. 2 score on the bars, even with a stumble on her dismount. She finished just behind Williams with a second-place 7.65.

Bauman tied Dixon for third with a 7.4.

A pair of freshmen continued to support Williams on the floor. Kristin Brown was third overall with an 8.55, and Caitlin Dunn had the No. 3 score for Jay County with an 8.15.

Rees said she was also thrilled with Fifer’s overall performance as she scored 8.0 or higher on the floor and vault for the first time in her career. Her numbers give the Patriots added depth in both events as she scored an 8.25 on the vault and an 8.0 on the floor.

“Floor is getting cleaner,” said Rees, who said Fifer has also pulled back on some of her difficulty after and arm injury a few weeks ago. “Instead of concentrating on the hard stuff she’s been working on the little things.

“Vault just kind of clicked for her tonight. Tonight we saw the vault that we see in practice.”

Jay County is at home for each of its last two dual meets before the March 6 sectional at Muncie Central. The Patriots will host Hagerstown Monday at 6:45 p.m.

Junior varsity

Heather Stevens won two events and the all-around competition at the junior varsity level.

Stevens cruised to victory on the vault with a 7.65, two points better than Jerica Glisson of Richmond. She was also first on the beam with a 6.35.

Also adding victories were Kayla Smith with a 7.5 on the floor and Caitlin Dunn with a 6.45 on the bars.[[In-content Ad]]