Wawasee Gymnastics: Atwood Qualifies For State
HUNTINGTON — It was a moment three years in the making for Reagan Atwood and 13 years for the Wawasee gymnastics team. Atwood, a junior, finally punched a ticket to the IHSAA state finals with her floor performance Friday evening at the Huntington North Regional, becoming the first Warrior to head to state since Lindsay Olsen in 2004.
The Warriors took fifth overall with a final score of 104.625 while Dwenger (111.275), Carroll (108.625) and Homestead (108.050) all moved on as teams to next week’s state competition.
Atwood led her team in three of the four events and took fourth in her signature event, the floor exercise. On floor Atwood earned a 9.325. Dwenger’s Amy Weilbaker (9.475) took first in the event. Atwood tied for ninth on beam with an 8.900. On vault the junior turned in an 8.825, placing her 18th. The only event in which Atwood did not have the highest score for Wawasee’s gymnasts was on bars where she earned an 8.300. Atwood as 10th in the all-around with a 35.350. Olsen, the last Warrior to make the trip to state, did so on beam and took third in the event.
Wawasee’s top score on bars came from Alyssa Minnix. The sophomore took 14th with her mark of 8.400. Minnix had a 7.525 on beam, 8.625 on floor and an 8.55 on vault. Those scores placed her 16th in the all-around at 33.100.
Jada Parzygnot took 11th in the all-around for Wawasee with her effort of 34.775. The sophomore’s best performance of the day was tying for eighth on floor with a 9.175. Parzygnot tied for 12th with teammate Dre Wegener on beam with an 8.825. Parzygnot also had an 8.175 on bars and and 8.600 on vault.
Wegener’s only other event was on floor where she would earned an 8.100. Haleigh Smarr rounded out the other two spots for Wawasee with an 8.650 on vault and a 7.175 on bars.
Elkhart Central advanced Kiara Stabler (9.000) to state on bars and Analena Vanderzwaag (9.400) on floor. Stabler tied for fifth while Vanderzwaag was runner-up on floor.
Weilbaker also took first on vault (9.650) while bars were won by Homestead’s Catherine Milne (9.350). Dwenger’s Elaine Cornewell was the beam champion (9.425) and also won the all-around with a final tally of 37.200.
Final team standings: Dwenger 111.275, Carroll 108.625, Homestead 108.050, Elkhart Central 105.225, Wawasee 104.625 and East Noble 98.125.
Next week’s state finals will be held at Worthen Arena on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie. Opening ceremonies take place at 12:30 p.m. with competition starting at 1 p.m. Tickets are $10 and all-day parking is $5 at Worthen Arena.