The Miami Trace gymnastics team traveled to Worthington to participate in a quad meet Thursday, Dec. 22. The Panthers combined team score was a 117.05, good enough for a third place finish.
Tri-Valley won the quad with a 133.4. Westerville Central finished with a 122.8. Trace – 117.05 and Columbus DeSales brought in a 110.0 score.
The Panthers began the competition on the uneven bars. Devan Thomas led her team with a 8.15 mark by the judge on the event. The team tally for the bars was a 29.9 (a 30.35 is the all-time high mark for the program scored on bars).
Abby Arledge placed sixth on the balance beam (7.8) while Thomas stood in sixth for her floor exercise routine (7.8).
“I wanted the team to challenge themselves to really focus on each skill, to push past their fears, and perform their routines with extra enthusiasm, extra energy,” Miami Trace head coach Susan Holloway said. “They were all nervous throughout the night. Here we are with six freshmen competing at varsity caliber. We have the skills – experience, – we just need more belief in ourselves. We are lacking self-confidence. It will come!
“We will definitely use this meet to adjust our skill elements, hit the connections and master the routines with better confidence and precision,” Holloway said.
On floor, four Miami Trace gymnasts threw their layout one-halves and fulls along with the required double salto passes. Grace Rolfe competed a new vault, as well as her back-handspring on balance beam.
Victoria Waits threw her round-off on balance beam and a release move on the uneven bars. Devan Thomas added a new advanced skill into her bar routine. Maddi Swayne has learned several skills for all her events in this past month.
The team will compete in Cincinnati at the Forest Hills Flip Fest on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017.
