Advertisement

Bloomington-area teams head to Franklin Central gymnastics sectional Friday

jim gordillo, the herald-times
·5 min read

Gymnasts from Bloomington North, South, Edgewood and Owen Valley will be on their postseason journey Friday at the Franklin Central Sectional after many years at Columbus East.

Here's what to watch as the competition and the run to the finals at Ball State University in Muncie unfold:

Time, teams and places

The competition will take place starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Gymnastics Company, 5646 Mutual Lane, just up the road from the high school.

Other teams in the field are Columbus East, Columbus North, Franklin Central, Indianapolis Lutheran, Martinsville, Roncalli and Seymour.

One difference this year will be the use of two beams, sets of bars and vault horses to help speed up the event. One team in each rotation, other than floor, will be able to perform while the other warms up.

The top three teams advance to regional as will the top six individuals in each event and the all-around and anyone else who meets the state standards (Vault – 9.550; Bars – 9.530; Beam – 9.225; Floor Exercise – 9.550; All-Around – 37.475). The regional will be at the same location on March 3.

Who's No. 3?

Columbus North is ranked sixth in the state and Bloomington North 10th. The Bull Dogs' top team score this year was a 109, while the Cougars had a 109.2 on Jan. 23, just .15 off the school record. The Cougars won a dual meet between the two on Jan. 11, 106.3-105.6 but the Bull Dogs prevailed at the three-team Conference Indiana meet, 109-108.35, on Feb. 13.

"We have to hope we're solid on all four events and hope for the best," North coach Alena Wray said.

South has a season best of 103.5, while the list at the Indiana Gymnastics Coaches Association site shows Seymour at 102.5, Roncalli at 102, Martinsville at 100.6.

"They've done a phenomenal job pushing themselves," South coach Michelle Stroud said. "I'm excited to see what happens but we've got our work cut out for us. We expect Columbus North and Bloomington North to be first and second so we're fighting for third and there are four or five teams who can do it if they hit."

Bloomington North won its first sectional since 1984 last year en route to its first state team appearance in 41 years, with Columbus North coming back to win regional.

Bloomington North's Sofia Garcia performs on the beam during during regionals at The Gymnastics Company on March 4, 2022.
Bloomington North's Sofia Garcia performs on the beam during during regionals at The Gymnastics Company on March 4, 2022.

Top All-Arounders

Columbus North's Reece Euler, who swept all the top honors at the CI meet, is the top all-arounder coming in, along with teammate Lindsey Mullis.

Bloomington South will use three all-arounders in Stella Eibling, Maddie Kawanishi and Mia Langley, while North will use just one in Sofie Garcia.

"Some of them are probably upset not competing all-around, because some of them wanted to," Wray said. "But I wanted to keep them safe on all the events and try not to do as much as possible."

Edgewood's top performer is sophomore Addison Goerges, whose best scores have come on vault and beam, while Martinsville is led by Lily Boyd and Gabby Grubb and Owen Valley by Kate Gibson.

Euler was the sectional runner-up in the all-around last year with Franklin Central's Austyn Dykes, Grubb and Boyd also in the top six.

Bloomington North's Hope Taylor performs her floor routine at the IHSAA Gymnastics State Championship on March 12, 2022.
Bloomington North's Hope Taylor performs her floor routine at the IHSAA Gymnastics State Championship on March 12, 2022.

North leans on depth again

North will use five other gymnasts besides Garcia at sectional with Hope Taylor on vault, bars and floor; Jessica Floyd on vault, beam and floor; Claire Dann on beam, vault and floor; Maddie Rich on bars and beam and Hannah Abel on bars.

"Everybody's healthy and ready to go," Wray said. "We ended practice tonight on a really good note. This season has gone extremely great. They're doing really well so I just hope we're as strong as we have been all year."

Dann, who did only vault at sectional last year, has stepped up this year with senior Sarah Goldsworthy unable to perform all season due to a knee injury late in the soccer season.

"Claire has worked extremely hard and definitely deserves her position," Wray said. "She's been a huge role model for the team."

Scores keep rising for South

The Panthers are slated to use five gymnasts with Langley, Kawanishi and Eibling all-arounders again this year, supported by Violet Leis on beam and floor, maybe vault if needed, and freshman Sayen Antinao on bars. Alex Riggs will be the alternate on beam, vault and floor.

"We've been putting things in all season in practice and doing it under pressure at meets," Stroud said. "They've done a great job and I'm proud at how far they've come, especially since the first meet. We've not scored 100 just twice this season.

"As the weeks kept going we were doing more and more and scoring better. I couldn't ask for better timing with the end of the season."

Like Dann, Eibling has elevated her game this season despite having to overcome injury issues.

"Stella's been solid all season," Stroud said. "She keeps adding difficulty and broke 9 at conference on floor, which is a big deal. I think it's incredible that she's even competing. It amazes me every day considering she's had two back injuries. She just keeps coming back stronger and adding more difficulty."

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com or 812-331-4381 and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington North, South, Edgewood, Owen Valley gymnastics sectional