Bull Dogs put up big scores in senior night win against Owls

Her senior night performance didn’t go quite as planned, but Claire Thompson and her Columbus North teammates still were at a high level Monday night.

Thompson won two events and the all-around competition, and the fourth-ranked Bull Dogs put up their best score since the season opener in a 111.025 to 99.75 win against Seymour.

“We joke around the gym that we could be really dangerous if we’d all hit on the same day,” North co-coach Sandy Freshour said. “They’re capable, and we’re just fighting the inconsistency. But they work really hard, and we even threw some new routines tonight, so I’m proud of them.”

Thompson, who was honored along with fellow senior Kaitlyn Calandro prior to the meet, put up big scores on her first two events. Thompson won with a 9.625 on the vault and a 9.7 on the bars.

Thompson then had a fall on the beam and finished third with a 9.2 and fell on the floor and took fourth with a 9.25. She won the all-around with a 37.775.

“I had two falls, but I still feel pretty good, especially with my teammates,” Thompson said. “They all stepped up well, and makes me feel a lot better that I can count on them, and we can all count on each other. I feel like we’re finally getting our jitters out, and we’re being more confident in our routines, and that’s why we’re scoring so well.”

Tova Edwards came through with a career performance, winning the beam with a 9.375 and finishing third in the all-around with a 34.475. Sami Heathcote won the floor (9.675) and was second in the all-around (37.525).

Heathcote finished second on the vault (9.225), bars (9.325) and beam (9.3). Ashley Niebrugge was second on the floor (9.525).

“We had some phenomenal scores,” North co-coach Bob Arthur said. “It was interesting because it was girls that were stepping up that maybe weren’t the third or fourth, but sometimes our fourth or fifth people that were pulling out the scores.”

That included Edwards on the beam. Freshour and assistant coach Deshawn Kelley had been working with her on a new beam routine.

“What Deshawn and Freshour were looking at was changing it to make it not as long and simplifying it to a large degree, but still having the difficulty in there,” Arthur said.

North’s Alayne Davis finished third on the vault (8.825) and took fifth in the all-around (33.45).

The Bull Dogs’ score was between two and three points higher than they had been scoring in most meets since the season-opener at Bloomington North.

“We’re doing what we want to do,” Freshour said. “We had some girls come in and post some pretty good scores that allowed for Claire to have a couple of mishaps on beam and floor. That’s what we’re trying to do as a team — to be able to have four good scores on each event.”