Friday night’s Columbus East gymnastics sectional didn’t start off well for Columbus North.
But after getting the first event out of the way, the Bull Dogs were clicking on all cylinders.
Led by a four-event sweep and a school-record all-around score from freshman Emily Moore, seventh-ranked North put up a 111.4, its second-best team score of the season, to regain the sectional title it lost to East last season. The Olympians finished third to advance to Friday’s East Regional.
Moore swept the vault (9.575), bars (9.7), beam (9.6) and floor (9.8) to score a 38.675 in the all-around, breaking former state all-around champion Claire Thompson’s school record of 38.55.
“It feels great to know that my hard work at the gym paid off,” Moore said. “At first, I was kind of nervous, but as I went along, the nerves went down.”
That might have been the case for a few of the Bull Dogs. They had to start on the beam, and the first two gymnasts each fell twice.
North had to count two of the falls and scored a 26.725 on the beam.
“Madi (Edwards) took a big load for the team to be a freshman and to be the very first competitor on a high-risk event,” North co-coach Sandy Freshour said. “It’s one that has enough nerves already, and then to be the first team, and to be the first competitor on the first team in her freshman year, she did all right.”
The Bull Dogs then hit about the equivalent of a grand slam on the floor. Alanye Davis started with a 9.3, followed by a 9.575 from Ashley Niebrugge, a 9.7 from Tova Edwards and a 9.8 from Moore to score a 29.075 on the event.
Tova Edwards finished second in the event, while Niebrugge was fourth and Davis tied for sixth.
“If you can be that close to perfect, that’s not a bad deal,” North co-coach Bob Arthur said. “I have to give credit to Alayne because she set the tone and really pushed the scores up from there.”
On their next event, the vault, the Bull Dogs went 1-2-3 and put four in the top six. Besides Moore’s 9.575, Tova Edwards scored a 9.3, Emma Cooper a 9.25 and Davis an 8.9 for a 28.125 total.
North finished with a 27.475 on the bars. After Moore’s 9.7, Tova Edwards finished second with a 9.225.
Tova Edwards took second in the all-around with a personal-best 37.275.
“Of course, we would rather stick four beam routines, but the good news is that once we got the jitters out a little bit on that event, we seemed to coast pretty well for the next three events,” Freshour said. “That’s exactly what we want to do, is be close to our best score when we’re in this meet. We have a lot of the judges that we might see at the state meet, so that’s encouraging. We still have some stuff we didn’t do as well as we can, so that’s encouraging, too.”
Owen Valley edged East 103.85 to 103.225 for second in the team standings.
The Olympians had their No. 2 gymnast, Taylen Lane, for only two events because of a sprained ankle. Lane finished eighth on the bars (8.575), then pulled out a second-place finish on the beam (9.125).
“She pulled a dismount off (on beam) that we hadn’t practiced,” East coach Nancy Kirshman said. “She just did it on her own, knowing we were hurting. My eyes got about like silver dollars. She just sort of looked at me and grinned.”
Taylor Gaskill led the Olympians with a third-place all-around finish (35.925). Gaskill finished third on the floor (9.6), tied for fourth on the vault (8.95) and placed fifth on the bars (8.675) and beam (8.7).
East received a scare when No. 3 gymnast Elise LaSell fell on her floor routine and was unable to finish her routine. Kirshman said LaSell hyperextended her elbow, but was feeling better after the meet and should be OK to continue competing.
“Haley Johnson did an outstanding job as a senior on floor,” Kirshman said. “She’s normally our No. 5 or 6, and she came through like gangbusters for us, so I’m real proud of her because she did everything we were asking her to do.”
The Olympians, who did an Olympic rotation, scored a 25.6 on the vault, 25.5 on the bars, 25.825 on the beam and a 26.3 on the floor.
“It wasn’t what we wanted,” Kirshman said. “We just shot ourselves in the foot a couple times. We had a terrific week of practice last week, so I’m not sure what happened, but we redeemed ourselves, thank goodness. It doesn’t really matter where you place as long as you’re moving on, so we’re really looking forward to next week.”
