With their gymnastics meets getting canceled because of weather-related issues last week and Friday’s Columbus East sectional quickly approaching, the Olympians and Columbus North decided to have mock meets.
East had its mock meet on Feb. 17, the night they were to host Owen Valley. That meet was moved to Monday, and the Olympians finished the regular season with a victory.
The Bull Dogs were supposed to compete in the Conference Indiana meet and a dual against Roncalli, both of which were canceled. North then scheduled Lapel for Friday night, but that, too, was canceled, so the Bull Dogs kept the officials and held an intrasquad meet that evening.
“We counted it as a regular meet,” North coach Betsy Warble said. “We divided them into two teams, and they competed truly against each other. It was a good competition. It was a lot of fun In the time of season where it tends to be dark and dreary, and we had a lot of snow, the girls had a lot of laughter, and they had a swag basket that was drawing their attention.”
The highlight of the meet came when junior Emily Moore broke her own school record with a 9.8 on the beam. Moore has the state’s highest scores this season on both the beam and floor and ranks eighth on the bars, ninth on the vault and third in the all-around.
The Bull Dogs, who are ranked eighth in the coaches poll, have the state’s 10th-best team score, a 109.05. Their other top gymnasts are juniors Madi Edwards and Abby Jacobi and sophomore Lindsey Mullis.
“Most of our season, we’ve been growing and working toward this part,” Warble said. “I think we are kind of right where we want to be. We’re continuing to work on refinement and execution. We are adding in some new skills for some of the girls, and they competed them in our intrasquad meet. I think we’re ready for another meet. I think they need another meet to kind of keep the life in us.”
No. 15 Bloomington North has the second-best score in the sectional, a 107.45, while Martinsville is third-best at 104.75. The top three teams advance to next week’s East Regional.
“There will be some competition,” Warble said. “Bloomington North is working really hard this season. By all means, we need to show up ready, and we need to show up committed to do our best.”
Meanwhile, East will be among a few other teams hoping to challenge Martinsville for that third spot. The Olympians, with a 100.825, rank seventh going into the sectional, just behind Roncalli (102.8), Franklin Central (101.425) and Bloomington South (101.1).
“It’s always a goal to get to regional,” East co-coach Katie Menefee said. “It just depends on what we’re able to put in on Friday. We do have some of our girls that have been competing that are doing new skills that they could potentially be adding into their routines to help us.”
The Olympians have not been at full strength all season. Their lone returning state qualifier, senior Taylen Lane, sustained a concussion in the preseason and just got cleared to compete last week. Sophomore Makyna Mullins, who was the base gymnast for the bars at the state meet, had season-ending surgery.
East’s other two top returning gymnasts, senior Elise LaSell and junior Reagan Mount, are coming off injuries. Mount broke her foot in the season opener at Columbus North and returned in a limited capacity the past two meets. LaSell sprained an ankle in last week’s mock meet and competed on only the bars on Monday.
“We’re still working on our injuries, getting them back in,” Menefee said. “I feel like we can only be better than what we’ve done.”
It is not clear yet how many events Lane, LaSell and Mount will be able to do on Friday. Sophomore Cami Warren won the all-around competition in Monday’s meet.
“Since we don’t have the lineup set for sectional, it’s encouraging that we know that we have other people to come in and step up,” East co-coach Melissa Dishinger said.
