Reagan Atwood took first in three events Tuesday night, including an 8.80 performance on vault. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – It was home sweet home for the Wawasee gymnastics team Tuesday night. Wawasee performed at home for the first time this season and used that to its advantage as it scored a season-high to defeat visiting West Noble 96.55-90.60.

Wawasee took first in every event, but the night was highlighted by a strong performance on the beam. Falls have hurt Wawasee so far this season, but Tuesday it was a different story.

“Oh my, the momentum on beam was great,” began Wawasee head coach Nika Prather. “Once we had one person do well, it just carried over. Autumn Yoder started out and just had the one fall. I think everybody just kind of caught the positive vibes after that.”

Wawasee freshman Reagan Atwood took first with an excellent performance, earning her a score of 8.65. Taylor Busse fell just once on her way to third in the event with a 7.90. Atwood was one of three Warriors to have a no-fall routine Tuesday night. Ashleigh Frecker (7.65) and Meghan Beer (7.75) also avoided falling.

“Two meets back we had 18 falls between JV and varsity. Eighteen,” Prather said with a hint of disgust. “To go from that to what we did here tonight is beyond huge. The performance on beam tonight was just great. I couldn’t ask for more.”

Taylor Busse grabs some air during her beam routine.

While beam was where Wawasee showed its biggest improvement, vault was where the Warriors showed its dominance. Wawasee took five of the top six spots in the event, including the top four spots.

Every Warrior scored an 8.00 or higher in the event. Atwood once again shined as she scored an 8.80, more than good enough for first place. Senior Molly Smith took second after scoring an 8.35. Frecker finished third in the event with an 8.30 while Busse and Deea Coy took fourth and sixth with scores of 8.25 and 8.00, respectively.

“Our vaults went well, JV and varsity both, I was really pleased with vaults tonight,” Prather said. “On bars, well, we still have a long way to go on bars. It’s just the toughest event. I’ll be the first to admit that there is still so much that we are lacking there. We’re not able to get the scores in the eights where we need them.”

Only two scores on bars were close to where Prather needs them to be. Atwood and Busse tied for first in the event, each scoring an even 8.00. Haleigh Smarr claimed fourth with her 7.10 while Smith grabbed fifth with a 7.05.

Wawasee’s Leigh-Ann Shrack performs her floor routine.

West Noble picked up its only first place of the night on the floor. Amanda Huntsman scored an 8.65 to take top honors in the event. Huntsman also took second with her performance on beam and third on bars.

Jade Skelton led the way for Wawasee on the floor by taking second with an 8.20. Atwood took fourth with a 7.90 while Coy took fifth with a 7.60.

No surprises came at the end of the night when Atwood was named first in the all-around category. The lone Warrior to compete in all four events scored a 33.35 to beat out Huntsman (32.10) for first in the category.

Wawasee (2-1) will host Warsaw next Tuesday night and will be back home again next Thursday night for a meet with Lakeland. Both meets start at 6:30 p.m..

Wawasee won the junior varsity meet handily, 78.55-3.65 as West Noble had just one girl competing. Katelynn Baker placed first on bars and won the all-around with a score of 27.85 for Wawasee.

Senior Deea Coy performs on the bars for Wawasee.