Columbus North’s Reese Euler performs her floor routine against Columbus East Jan. 8 at Columbus East.
The Republic file photo
Columbus North wants to return to the podium again.
In order to accomplish it, the Bull Dogs likely will have to match or better their regional score in Saturday’s Gymnastics state finals at Worthen Arena on the Ball State campus in Muncie.
North earned its berth in Saturday’s state meet by winning the Franklin Central Regional over runner-up Bloomington North 107.775 to 107.575. The Bull Dogs had lost to the Cougars three times earlier in the season.
The score North put up at regional could have been much higher. Top gymnast Reese Euler had an uncharacteristic fall from the beam that prevented her from capturing the regional title in the all-around. No. 2 gymnast Hannah Perry also had a couple uncharacteristic falls from the beam and one on her bars dismount. Euler was sixth with a 8.925 on beam, and Perry was 18th with a 7.8.
“Reese and Hannah’s issues I would have to refer to them as nothing more than flukes. The mistakes that happened rarely happen in practice and definitely don’t happen in our other meets,” North coach Bob Arthur said. “Reese and Hannah have been the rocks for us, and now that we’ve got the other cast members doing better, it’s just going to push us up as a team.”
Arthur said after the regional meet, the girls wanted to have more practice time, so they held a practice on Saturday to have an extra day to correct and hone in on their skills sets.
“That kind of shows where the motivation is. I saw some great things, so I think they’re serious,” Arthur said. “With the fact that we still didn’t put together the ultimate meet yet, we’re capable of a 109 or even higher if we do what we do and do it well.”
The Bull Dogs won’t be a favorite to capture the state title and are projected to finish anywhere from fourth to eighth, depending how well they perform at the meet. If they can string together a more clean, perfect meet, even a higher place finish isn’t out of reach for them.
The top four teams will earn a spot on the podium. North placed fourth as a team last year.
Crown Point is considered the favorite to win the state title after posting a 113.4 regional score. Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger was next at 110.625. Defending state champion Valparaiso had the third-best regional score at 109.85.
The competition is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, preceded by the opening ceremony 30 minutes beforehand. General admission is $15 per person, with children ages 5 and under free. All tickets must be purchased through Eventlink. No cash will be accepted. The IHSAA is streaming the event online at IHSAAtv.org for $15.
