Columbus North’s Katrina May shined bright in a big moment, giving the Bull Dogs a needed boost in Saturday’s gymnastics sectional.
May led the way for North, narrowly winning the all-around competition with 37.625 points and helping propel the second-ranked Bull Dogs to the sectional championship against fifth-ranked and crosstown rival Columbus East 110.250-108.625.
“To be able to come out here in this big of a meet and win the all-around competition was really exciting,” May said. “But to also come out on top with the team score is rewarding.”
May placed first on the vault (9.550) and floor (9.5), and finished fourth on the bars (9.550).
Bull Dogs co-coach Sandy Freshour said it wasn’t the strongest meet for the team overall, but May helped rally the team throughout the day.
“It was a little bit of a rough meet today,” Freshour said. “I think we were just a little bit nervous and jittery, with the competition level being so high here. But Katrina did a good job of keeping everybody in check today.”
North’s Ashley Holiday and Claire Thompson finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the all-around with scores of 36.550 and 36.075. Holiday put together an impressive performance on the balance beam, scoring a 9.45, good enough for a second-place finish in the event.
Columbus East, one week removed from a narrow loss to Owen Valley, claimed revenge, beating the Patriots for second place in the sectional. Owen Valley claimed the third and final regional-qualifying spot with 106.4 points.
Adi Minor paved the way for the Olympians, placing second in the all-around with the same score as May (37.625). May, however, won the tiebreaker with higher average scores from all the judges over the four individual events.
Minor, who this time last year was unable to compete because of a broken leg, placed second on the vault (9.5), bars (9.625) and floor (9.475).
“Our focus today was to redeem ourselves against Owen Valley, which we did handily,” East coach Nancy Kirshman said. “We had a really bad beam today, with falls from all four of our girls, which isn’t customary for us. So to be able to come out and finish in second place is good for us.”
East’s Seena Grewe finished ninth in the all-around (35.750), paved by an impressive floor routine, where she finished third with a 9.4.
“Seena started off falling on the beam, which had her upset, but came back and had a great floor routine,” Kirshman said. “I always tell them that it’s over with and you can’t do anything about it now, but we will do something about it next week in the regional.”
Seymour narrowly missed advancing to the regional as a team, placing fourth with 104.95 points. The Owls’ Alyssa Goen and Kellsye Warner placed 11th and 12th in the all-around, highlighted by Warner’s sixth-place finish on the floor (9.25).
Seymour freshman Avery Dehart also had a strong performance, finishing with an all-around score of 34.45, placing her 15th out of 39 competitors.
The Bull Dogs and Olympians will compete for the East Regional title at 11 a.m. Saturday.
