Bullard, Patriots open with win

On her first tumbling pass, Karlie Bullard didn’t quite rotate enough and fell to the floor.

Instead of letting the early mishap effect the rest of her routine, she simply focused on what was ahead of her.

Her short-minded approach paid off.

Bullard capped off a career-best all-around performance by nailing the rest of her floor exercise routine in leading the Jay County High School gymnastics team to a season-opening victory against the Marion Giants on Thursday, 91.95-74.825.

“After (the fall) I was just going to do whatever I can to be the best I can after that and lot let it get me down,” said Bullard, who earned an 8.125 on the event and finished with an all-around score of 32.175. “No matter what I was still happy with whatever I was going to get because it’s our first meet.”

Jill Ranly, Jay County’s coach, said happy was not quite the right word to evaluate the performance of her youthful team.

“I am very, very excited,” she said. The Patriots feature two sophomores and six freshmen. “Honestly, with the age of them and the kids’ inexperience … this was my best case scenario.

“We did pretty good, I thought, on every event.”

It was Bullard, a sophomore along with Riley Leavell, who paved the way for the Patriots in the first of their two home meets this year.

She was first on vault with an 8.4 and scored a 7.5 on bars. It was her beam routine, however, that provided the confidence she needed for the rest of the night.

“I just went over there away from everybody just focusing on what I needed to do to stay on the beam,” she said. “I was practicing my back handspring over and over again. I just go through it in my head a million times before I go.”

She nailed the back handspring and had a clean dismount too. She was the only Jay County gymnast to stay on the beam, and earned career-best 8.15.

“Her beam routine was pretty much as I expected it,” Ranly said. “She had a couple wobbles but fights real hard to stay on.

“She had a very solid beam routine for us and that is one of the reasons why she’s the anchor for us.”

“I’m really happy with how I did,” Bullard said. “It is our first meet so there is a lot of room to improve for all the girls on the team.”

Leavell also set two career bests, earning an 8.2 to finish fifth on vault and finishing in the same place on floor with a 7.45. She added a 7.0 for second on bars, and was third on beam with a 6.75.

“Riley’s bar routine was the highest part of her day because it is the first time she’s hit that routine all the way through,” Ranly said.

Freshman Rachel Louck had a solid debut, placing second on floor (8.1) and beam (7.275) while also finishing third on vault (8.25) and bars (6.6).

“Rachel is capable of even more,” Ranly said. Louck’s all around of 30.225 trailed only Bullard. “She hit all of the very hard elements on her beam routine.”

Paige Howell was fourth in the all around competition with a score of 27.25. Her best was an 8.225 on vault, then a  7.575 on floor. She also had a 5.975 on bars and 5.475 on beam, after which she was visibly frustrated.

The personal disappointment, Ranly said, is what she likes most about her young team.

“The real nice thing I think about this team … I can tell these girls have a lot of competitiveness and a lot of drive,” she said.

In junior varsity action, Jay County’s Justice Day edged teammate Kaitlyn Morningstar in both bars and floor. Day scored 6.125 on beam compared to Morningstar’s 5.6. 

Day earned her best total of 7.075 on floor, while Morningstar had a 6.65.