Columbus North’s depth took a big hit this week when one senior gymnast broke her toe and another came down sick.
But the co-No. 3-ranked Bull Dog gymnasts still came within a point of their season best Thursday night when they posted a 109.35 to 99.225 win against Bloomington South.
“I think they did fine,” North co-coach Sandy Freshour said. “We have a lot of kids that have been a little bit under the weather, and we had a good meet. I think there was a big message to the kids that they always need to be ready. We’ve been a five senior-strong team, and we had to call up some of the underclassmen with the illness and the injury to a couple of seniors, so hopefully, they will be a little more on their toes moving forward to the end of the season.”
The Bull Dogs took the top five places in the all-around competition. Emily Moore won with a 37.425, followed by Sami Heathcote (37.025), Alayne Davis (34.625), Lindsey Mullis (33.335) and Madi Edwards (33.1).
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Moore won the vault (9.45), bars (9.475) and beam (9.2) and tied for second on the floor (9.3).
“My stomach didn’t feel very good on vault, but I feel fine,” Moore said. “I think it was just nerves, which usually happens every meet. I think I could have done better on floor.”
Heathcote won the floor with a 9.5. She also finished second on the vault (9.325), bars (9.2) and beam (9.0). She landed a front 1 1/2 on her way to her season-best on the floor.
“I think my floor routine went pretty well,” Heathcote said. “I added a new skill recently, and it’s been going great. So it was really fun to get to compete that.”
Davis tied for second on the floor (9.3) and finished third on the vault (9.025) and fourth on the beam (8.35). Mullis took third on the beam (8.45) and fourth on the bars (8.125).
North finished with a 27.8 on the vault, 26.8 on the bars, 26.65 on the beam and 28.1 on the floor. The Bull Dogs competed without Ashley Niebrugge, who hit her foot on the bars in practice and broke a toe, and Grace Ellis, who was ill.
“It just didn’t seem like we were quite as crisp and ‘on’ tonight, and I think maybe some of it was not having a couple of our varsity competitors able to compete tonight,” North co-coach Bob Arthur said.
