All season long, Columbus North has had three standout gymnasts battling it out for the top position for all four events and the all-around.
Thursday night, all three won at least one individual event, and two tied for the all-around victory. Sophomore Ashley Holliday and freshman Claire Thompson each scored a 36.65 to lead the third-ranked Bull Dogs to a 110.2-89.55 victory against Martinsville.
“Tying with a teammate is a good feeling, especially when you do well,” Holliday said. “I’m happy with how we did.”
“I was very surprised,” Thompson said. “I compete with her a lot, so it was kind of nice.”
What made the tie even more interesting is that two of their friends and former club teammates, Columbus East’s Becca Bryan and Adi Minor, tied for the all-around title one night earlier in the Olympians’ victory over Connersville.
“That was very surprising how that all turned out because we’re all such good friends,” said Thompson who was in attendance for Wednesday’ meet at East.
Thompson won the bars (9.3) and beam (9.625) and finished third on the vault (9.175) and fourth on the floor (8.55).
“I had a few mistakes on a couple events,” Thompson said. “I had a mistake on floor, but they’re easy fixes.”
Holliday won the vault (9.525) and finished second on the bars (9.15) and beam (8.925) and third on the floor (9.05).
“Tonight was an improvement for our team,” Holliday said. “I think all around, our whole team really improved on some things. We worked together and had a lot of confidence tonight, and that’s what made it a good night.”
North’s Katrina May won the floor (9.3) and finished second on the vault (9.2) and third on the bars (9.05) and beam (8.75) to take third in the all-around (36.3). Kaitlyn Barnes was second on the floor (9.15) and fourth on the vault (8.9), bars (8.25) and beam (8.7) to finish fourth in the all-around (35.0).
The Bull Dogs’ vault score (27.9) and its overall team score were its highest of the season.
“We finally got some vaults put together,” North co-coach Bob Arthur said. “The girls seemed to attack that with a little more confidence tonight. We still had some mistakes, but (vault) has probably been our Achilles (heel) since the beginning of the year and to score a 27-plus on vault was a good step for us.
“For the most part, we’re starting to come together and gel at the right time,” Arthur said. “We still have room for improvement, so even though it was our top score, we certainly haven’t peaked out by any stretch of the imagination.”
