Bloomington North gymnasts pull out win at sectional, South places third
The Franklin Central gymnastics sectional was a "wonder-ful" meet.
As in by the end, Bloomington North was wondering if it had won a second straight sectional team title. And Bloomington South was wondering if its season was done.
The Panthers had the most to lose as North and rival Columbus North were clearly ahead of the field in the race to grab the top three team spots and invites to next week’s regional. From there it was basically a four-team race with South, Franklin Central, Martinsville and Roncalli for third.
Both Bloomington schools had the same rotation, bars, beam, floor and vault as they navigated sectional.
“Roncalli, Martinsville and Franklin Central all gave us a run for their money,” South coach Michelle Stroud said. “Whenever they were calling out the individuals for podium, Roncalli, Martinsville and Franklin Central had kids placing. I thought no way.”
Each of those schools had one, or in Martinsville’s case, two with Gabby Grubb and Lily Boyd, of the top all-arounders at the meet. So they piled up ribbons, but not points. As it turned out, South had better depth, beating all three of those schools on bars and floor to score a 101.85 and take third over FC (100.6), Roncalli (100.525) and the Artesians (99.875). Owen Valley was eighth (92.325).
“Beam was rough,” Stroud said. “At the end of the meet, I didn’t think we were third. I thought we were fourth or fifth. I had added up our scores but not the others and came to the conclusion of hoping that we got an individual out but our season was probably over.
“Then Mia placed on beam and when they called out the team scores and they got to fourth place and it wasn’t us, we all descended into tears. Now, we have another week together.”
Stroud’s retirement party will have to wait another week. In the meantime, on the way home, it made the pancakes at Greenwood’s IHOP taste that much sweeter.
"It was definitely an unexpected placement,” said Langley, South’s only senior. “We were not really expecting to get third. But we were over the moon when we found out. It was an amazing moment to advance and got to regionals.”
“I couldn’t ask for a better end to my career as a high school coach,” Stroud said. “As Mia said, over the moon. This week, we’ll work on things and hope to put in some things we didn’t see on Friday. Now, it’s time to go big. We played it a bit safe because we wanted the opportunity to get out. This time, we’re going for it.”
North repeats, barely
North had its own tight battle to wage with the Bull Dogs, who had beaten the Cougars for a CI title, 109-108.35.
Columbus had the advantage on bars and beam by .925. But on floor, a 9.475 for second by Jessica Floyd and two 8.95s by Sofie Garcia and Hope Taylor to tie for 10th totaled a 27.375, a full point better than CN. North finished up on vault and topped the Bull Dogs by half a point to pull out the win, 107.375-106.8.
Garcia finished third in the all-around (36.375) while placing third on beam (9.25) and fourth on vault (9.35) and bars (8.825). Floyd was second on floor and tied for ninth on vault (8.875), while Taylor was second on vault (9.45) and tied for ninth on bars (8.35). Claire Dann was eighth on beam (8.875) and Hannah Abel 11th on bars.
Edgewood, Owen Valley out
Edgewood’s all-arounder Addison Goerges painfully came within .05 of making regional on vault with an 8.95 for seventh. The sophomore was also 12th on floor at 8.9. Harlie Robbins also had an 8.65 on vault.
OV brought in four all-arounders, led by Dakota Worthington at 31.425. Elliza Gentry had the Patriots’ top vault at 8.5 and top floor score at 8.275. Worthington had an 8.125 on beam.
Top performers
Columbus North’s Reece Euler was the top all-arounder as expected with a 37.725, followed by Franklin Central’s Austyn Dykes (36.725), then Garcia, Boyd (35.825), Elizabeth Schafer of Roncalli (35.775) and Grubb (35.075).
Euler was vault (9.6) and bars (9.55) while Dykes won beam (9.5) and floor (9.5).
“The scoring was really tough tonight,” Stroud said. “You were seeing it across the board.”
South survives
Maddie Kawanishi (34.35) and Langley (34.175) went 7-8 in the all-around and Stella Eibling was 12th as the team fought its nerves to make it through.
“They really pulled together,” Stroud said. “All week, we talked and we all knew the potential was there. I told them, ‘This is your sectionals.'"
Langley took sixth on beam (9.0) and ninth on floor (9.025), while Kawanishi tied for seventh on floor (9.05), eighth on bars (8.4) and tied for ninth on vault (8.875).
“We were really just trying to give it our all,” Langley said. “We all performed at our very best. I just went into it thinking this could be my last meet ever, so I tried to do my best and have fun.”
FRANKLIN CENTRAL SECTIONAL
Team scores (top 3 advance to regional): 1. Bloomington North 107.375; 2. Columbus North 106.8; 3. Bloomington South 101.85; 4. Franklin Central 100.6; 5. Roncalli 100.525; 6. Martinsville 99.875; 7. Seymour 95.05; 8. Owen Valley 92.325; 9. Columbus East 87.2; 10. Edgewood 85.775; 11. Indianapolis Lutheran 49.725.
Individual events
Top six qualify for regional
Vault (9.55): 1. Reece Euler, CN, 9.6; 2. Hope Taylor, BN, 9.45; 3. Austyn Dykes, FC, 9.375; 4. Sofia Garcia, BN, 9.35; 5. Lilly Boyd, M, 9.2; 6. Elizabeth Schafer, R, 9.0; 7. Addison Goerges, Edg, 8.95; 8. Ellie McIntier, CN, 8.925; T9. Maddie Kawanishi, BS, 8.875; Jessica Floyd, BN, 8.875; 10. Mia Langley, BS, 8.85; 11. Claire Dann, BN, 8.8. (Harlie Robbins, Edg, 8.65; Stella Eibling, BS, 8.55; Ellisa Gentry, OV, 8.5; Violet Leis, BS, 8.45; Bronni Gibson, OV, 8.35; Dakota Worthington, OV, 8.3; Bella Carson, Edg, 8.1; Oksana Cramer, OV, 8.0).
Bars (9.35): 1. Euler, CN, 9.55; 2. Lindsey Mullis, CN, 9.175; 3. Gabby Grubb, M, 8.875; 4. Garcia, BN, 8.825; 5. Boyd, M, 8.725; T6. Penelope Morrow, IL, 8.55; Schafer, R, 8.55; 8. Kawanishi, BS, 8.4; T9. Taylor,BN, 8.35; Dykes, FC, 8.35; 11. Hannah Abel, BN, 8.3; 12. Sayen Antinao, BS, 7.9. (Maddie Rich, BN, 7.8; Langley, BS, 7.3; Eibling, BS, 7.25; Goerges, Edg, 7.05; Worthington, OV, 6.95; Gibson, OV, 6.325; Robbins, Edg, 6.2; Gentry, OV, 5.825; Cramer, OV, 5.35; Carson, Edg, 2.825).
Beam (9.225): 1. Dykes, FC, 9.5; 2. Euler, CN, 9.45; 3. Garcia, BN, 9.25; 4. Grubb, M, 9.175; 5. Schafer, R, 9.125; 6. Langley, BS, 9.0; 7. Mullis, CN, 8.9; 8. Claire Dann, BN, 8.875; T9. Hannah Perry, CN, 8.85; Boyd, M, 8.85; 11. Floyd, BN, 8.725; 12. Mia Dailey, Sey, 8.7. (Rich, BN, 8.525; Eibling, BS, 8.125; Worthington, OV, 8.125; Kawanishi, BS, 8.025; Leis, BS, 7.975; Gentry, OV, 7.925; Gibson, OV, 7.6; Carson, Edg, 7.15; Cramer, OV, 7.075; Robbins, Edg, 6.175; Goerges, Edg, 5.7; Addie Morwick, Edg, 5.175.)
Floor (9.55): 1. Dykes, FC, 9.5; 2. Floyd, BN, 9.475; 3. Euler, CN, 9.125; 4. Schafer, R, 9.1; T5. Grubb, M, 9.075; Perry, CN, 9.075; T7. Kawanishi, BS, 9.05; Boyd, M, 9.05; 9. Langley, BS, 9.025; T10. Garcia, BN, 8.95; Taylor, BN, 8.95; 12. Goerges, Edg, 8.9. (Leis, BS, 8,75; Dann, BN, 8.675; Eibling, BS, 8.525; Gentry, OV, 8.275; Carson, Edg, 8.1; Cramer, OV, 8.1; Worthington, OV, 8.05; Robbins, Edg, 7.975; Morwick, Edg, 7.9; Gibson, OV, 7.825).
All-Around (37.475): 1. Euler, CN, 37.725; 2. Dykes, FC, 36.725; 3. Garcia, BN, 36.375; 4. Boyd, M, 35.825; 5. Schafer, R, 35.775; 6. Grubb, M, 35.075; 7. Kawanishi, BS, 34.35; 8. Langley, BS, 34.175; T9. Mullis, CN, 34.05; Morrow, IL, 34.05; 11. Piper Hawkins, Sey, 32.85; 12. Eibling, BS, 32.45. (Worthington, OV, 31.425; Gentry, OV, 30.525; Goerges, Edg, 30.6; Gibson, OV, 30.1; Robbins, Edg, 29.0; Cramer, OV, 28.525; Carson, Edg, 26.175).
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 places first, South third at sectional gymnastics
