ELKHART – The roller coaster ride of a gymnastics season for both Elkhart Central and Wawasee continued Thursday night as the two teams collided at The Club in the Elkhart Industrial Park. Central rode up the hill of excitement with a 104.65 team score while Wawasee watched its hopes fall time and again with its 97.85.

Wawasee’s Taylor Busse launches between the uneven bars at Elkhart Central Thursday evening. (Photos by Mike Deak)

Both teams have had plenty of ups and downs this season, the Blazers and Warriors both coming off less-than-satisfying showings at last weekend’s Lakeland Invite, the mid-season barometer for the high school gymnastics season in the area. Elkhart proved it still is one of the two teams to beat – along with DeKalb – in March’s Wawasee Sectional with a fine showing Thursday while Wawasee showed it has some visible flaws.

Central were on point, with Kiara Stabler leading the way. Stabler claimed first in all four events, her top score a 9.2 on floor. Stabler also posted 8.45 on bars, 8.8 on beam and tied teammate Libby Yeakey on vault at 9.0. Yeakey, along with Libby Tully enjoying the golden glow of senior night, was sharp with a 9.1 on floor.

Elkhart Central’s Amari Johnson celebrates with coach Kathy Krauter after completing her first beam routine.

Skiler Reveal was a big point scorer for the Blue Blazers, posting 8.7 on floor and beam, 8.7 on vault and 8.1 on bars.

Stabler led all competitors with a 35.45 in all-around scoring, edging past Wawasee’s Reagan Atwood’s 34.3 and Reveal’s 34.2.

“We started calling that Lakeland Invitational the ‘mid-season meltdown’, it was as bad as we have been all season, the lowest score we have had in two seasons,” said Elkhart Central head coach Kathy Krauter, whose team scored a 96.7 at the Invite. Wawasee, in its own regard, had a 94.525, its lowest number since the first full week of the season. “It was just awful. We had 12 falls on the beam, and had falls on every single event. One of those days where everything was imploding around us.

“I think the kids really needed this today.”

Atwood, who has been trying to shake illness for over a week, displayed some wobbles in her performances, but still was a top-five in every category. Despite a fall on her finish on floor, Atwood still received a 9.0 in her highest mark. An 8.6 on beam and vault and 8.3 on bars were all examples of Atwood’s capability despite the illness, exclaimed Wawasee head coach Nika Prather.

Wawasee’s Reagan Atwood performs on the floor.

“Reagan has been battling this sickness since last week, even before the Lakeland Invite,” Prather said. “I know she was fighting through it tonight, and it showed in a couple of her events. But she still had some high scores, which says a lot about her ability.”

While Wawasee posted one of its higher scores of the season in the team meet figure, Prather noted her team’s routines were not crisp at all. A myriad of falls on beam, stops on bars and missteps on floor were very discouraging. The Warriors, who are in a second tier of sectional competitors based upon meet scores thus far, had just four scores in the top five aside from Atwood. Molly Smith had two of those, with an 8.7 on floor and 8.6 on vault, tied for fifth with teammates Taylor Busse and Ashleigh Frecker, while Busse was fifth on beam at 8.3 and fifth on bars at 8.6.

“To me, tonight was very uncharacteristic for us to have so many stops and falls like we did,” Prather said. “We are better than that. Beam was kind of rough. It appeared like bad bars, good vault. Decent floor, bad beam. When can we just hit them all at once? Seriously.”

Central are one meet from the end of its regular season, with just this Saturday’s LaPorte Sweethearts Invite ahead. Krauter feels her team will need and use the rest up through the sectional March 7, in what should be a wide open tournament at Wawasee.

“The best we can do this year is a 106,” Kratuer said. “At this point, it’s about polish. We really needed this meet to get some things right. We’ll use the downtime to rest up and focus on the next dimension of our season.”

Wawasee (4-3 overall) will go back to work ahead of its next meet at home Thursday against Huntington North.

Elkhart Central senior Libby Yeakey elevates off the vault during her final home performance Thursday night against Wawasee.