Huntington Gymnastics Regional: Central, Wawasee Have A Shot
HUNTINGTON – The stakes were high at the sectional level, and now, the ante has been raised.
The gymnastics state tournament has reached the regional round, and the logjam at the Huntington Regional between the six teams could be who doesn’t fall on beam or who sticks the vault. For Elkhart Central, it will be a matter of health; for Wawasee, it will be can they get a third score to keep up with the leaders.
The regional will have Central, Wawasee and East Noble entering teams, Central the champion of the Lakeland Sectional, as well as Fort Wayne Dwenger, Fort Wayne Carroll and Homestead, Dwenger the champion from the Concordia Sectional. Paper numbers has Dwenger entering with the top score from the weekend at 112.15, Carroll next at 110.275, followed by Central at 109.625, Homestead (108.325), Wawasee (106.25) and East Noble (101.50).
Central’s state hopes took a big hit Saturday when one of its aces, Abi Downs, went down with a knee injury after her bars routine and is still questionable per head coach Kathy Krauter. If Downs isn’t able to go, or just doesn’t look herself in practice, Krauter has the talent to fill the gap. But will that talent be able to replace 36.6 points of all-around work?
“I’m fortunate to have a bench that can pick up the slack for Abi if she can’t compete on Friday,” Krauter said. “The only event we most likely will lose tenths on is bars but that could easily be made up on the other three events if the kids hit their routines. If everyone hits on Friday and plays their game, we should be fine. On the bus ride home on Saturday, I had a talk with Rylee (Damewood) and she’s ready to get to work. To their credit, the majority of these kids deal well with fluid situations, and we are no doubt in one now. One way or another, our team will be ready.”
Without Downs, Central certainly isn’t dead. Paced by sophomore Analena Vanderzwaag, who led the sectional with a 36.65 all-around figure and was champion on the floor, Central also has veterans Kiara Stabler and Skiler Reveal ready to go. Look for some combination of Damewood, Estela Pedraza and Ellie Dobson to get some work if Downs is unable to go.
Wawasee will need to have a career-type day from all of its gymnasts if it wants to grab one of the three team tickets to state or get a gymnast out of the regional as an individual. Reagan Atwood certainly has the talent to get the job done, and showed her skills with a 9.6 on floor and 9.1 on beam, both top-six efforts at the sectional. Her 36.1 in all-around was a questionable vault score shy of contention for top meet performer. Jada Parzygnot gives Wawasee the one-two punch it needs. Parzygnot stepped up her bars routine to score a 9.1 and had a 9.4 on floor as her top efforts. Her 35.9 all-around is in contention for a top-six.
The issue for Wawasee will be getting a third score near the nine-point level, where the Lady Warriors fell off Central’s pace at Lakeland. Hovering in the 104-106 point range most of the season, Wawasee head coach Nika Prather knows she will need a career-best showing from a combination of Haleigh Smarr, Aundreya Wegener and Alyssa Minnix if the team wants to visit the state finals.
“Three points is doable,” stated Prather. “If everyone can up their routines by five-tenths, that’s where we can make up some ground. And we left a lot of points out there (Saturday). We had to make some judgment calls at sectionals to leave out some skills so we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot and lose easy points on missed skills. There are skills that the girls are still working on that are harder skills, especially bars, where we can hopefully get a couple extra points and take one of the top three spots.”
Dwenger has an arsenal of capable scorers, four of which can take the reigns as the lead. Amy Weilbaker and Elaine Cornewell went one-two on floor at Concordia, and along with Sophia Wrightturflinger and Rachel Landstoffer, the Saints are the likely team to beat. Carroll’s trio of Jillian Hoffmann, McKinley Carroll and Savannah Shearer give the Chargers a potent big-score machine, and Homestead’s Catherine Milne broke the 37 all-around plateau.
One individual to watch at the regional from Fort Wayne is Concordia senior E’Lycia Early, who has multiple years of state experience and one of the best bars routines in the state.
The regional will begin at 6 p.m. Friday evening, with the top three teams and top six individuals advancing to the IHSAA Gymnastics State Finals at Ball State University on March 11.