Four gymnasts set career bests in win

The streak continues.
Four Jay County High School gymnasts scored new career bests on Tuesday in a victory against the Marion Giants.
The 100.125-58.15 defeat of Marion extended the winning streak for the Patriots, who haven’t lost a meet in nearly three full years.
Junior Miranda Hibbard set new career highs on her first two events of the evening, scoring an 8.7 on the vault and a 7.15 on the uneven bars. She was one of two Patriots who stayed on the balance beam — scoring a 7.425 — and added a 7.825 on the floor exercise. She finished with an all-around score of 31.1, more than a point higher than her previous best of 29.95.
“Miranda tonight actually really stepped up,” said JCHS coach Lana Kahlig. “She’s a really fun girl. Tonight she had her serious face on (but) she was still having fun. She didn’t have any falls on the beam, and on the bars she kicked butt.”
Hibbard finished second on the vault, ahead of teammate Jocelyn Huey’s career-best score of 8.65 and behind senior Malarie Houck’s 8.8. Huey added a 7.3 on bars, 7.4 on beam and 7.55 on floor for a career best all-around score of 30.9
“Their (starting) value is the same or higher than before,” Kahlig said of Hibbard and Huey’s vault. “They’re working hard on that.”
Courtney Miles took first on the uneven bars with an 8.6 after scoring 8.425 on the vault.
The freshman then took a hard fall on the beam before earning her second victory of the evening with a 9.05 on the floor.
Miles, who stayed on the beam in Thursday’s victory against Heritage, missed the 4-inch wide apparatus after one of her jumps and came down awkwardly on the inside of her left leg.
The hard fall was met by a loud gasp from the crowd and Kahlig covering her eyes as she cringed.
“She brushed off that beam fall like no other,” the first-year coach said. “I’m really proud of her for acting like it was nothing.
“She’s going to have a pretty big strawberry.”
But Miles quickly put the beam routine behind her and executed all three of her tumbling passes on the floor to earn the top spot.
“I felt pretty good about it,” Miles said of her floor routine. “I just tried to show it off a little bit more than I did Thursday and replace my beam score.”
Miles placed second in the all-around competition with a 33.175.
Sophomore Maddie Strausburg also notched a new career-best on the bars with a 7.65, two tenths of a point better than her previous high score. She added scores of 8.3 on the vault, 6.4 on the beam and 7.95, totaling 30.3 on the all-around.
Lizzy Schoenlein earned two second-place finishes and one third en route to her victory in the all-around with a score of 33.2, a mere 0.025 ahead of Miles. Schoenlein was second in both the floor (9.025) and bars (8.075), and third on the beam (7.6). She scored an 8.5 on the vault.
Houck, the lone senior on the squad, was the only other Patriot to turn in a no-fall routine on the beam, scoring an 8.375 for second place. She added a 7.55 on the bars and an 8.175 on the floor to earn third in the all-around.
Her vault score of 8.8 was less than a quarter of a point shy of her career best, and Kahlig said she is happy with the way the senior is vaulting.
“We need to get it a little cleaned up, but she’s definitely where we want her to be,” Kahlig said.
Marion’s Emily Murphy scored an 8.8 on the beam for the lone Giant victory. She also placed third on the floor with a 8.9.
Jay County’s team score was nearly a full two points lower than the 102.95 it scored on Thursday, and Houck said she and her teammates are capable of doing better.
“There’s definitely room for improvement,” she said.

Junior varsity
Patriot freshman Sydnee Lee finished first in three events for the second straight meet.
She took the top spot in the vault (8.2) and floor (7.75), and was uncontested on the bars (5.625).
Erica Swingley was first on the beam with a 5.45, and added a second place finish on the floor with a 7.625.
Leearah Eldridge was second on both the vault (7.3) and beam (3.3). McKenna Daniels finished third on the floor (6.725) and vault (6.65).