Gymnasts compete in Cincinnati

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The Miami Trace High School gymnastics team competed in Cincinnati at Country Day High School Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022.

The Lady Panthers placed seventh in the 12-team invitational.

Lakota West won the event, posting a 133.775 team score.

Miami Trace finished the meet with a score of 121.925.

Washington High School did not compete enough gymnasts for a team score.

Miami Trace junior McKinley Kelley earned new high scores on all four of her events, (vault, bars, balance beam and floor exercise), aiding her team in the rankings at the meet.

By perfecting her technique and challenging herself over the holiday break to add newly-acquired skills, Kelley was able to gain higher marks from the judges.

Teammate, freshman Zandra West, added her own twists (literally), to her floor routine with a layout one-half turn and two aerial flips in one tumbling pass enabling her score to elevate by raising her start value. West placed 38th out of 72 on floor exercise with a 8.075 score.

Bayley Carr led the Panthers with a solid performance on all four events. Carr recorded two new personal high scores. Carr’s efforts placed her 17th in the All-Around out of 39 competitors.

Head coach Susan Holloway was quite pleased with her gymnasts as they incorporated new skills learned over the break in to their routines.

“It is all about pushing past your fears in challenging oneself to try new elements that seem pretty scary,” Holloway said. “Getting past that fear. Having the coach spot you through a skill — allowing the body to “feel” the movement and gain an awareness as to what it is suppose to do and then, repeatedly working on the corrected positioning until there is muscle memory and perfection of movement.

“The girls have truly been pushing themselves to gain all the skill requirements to maximize their start values of the routines,” Holloway said. “So many of them are gaining confidence thus, succeeding in being able to add the difficulty to their routines. In today’s competition, we had two gymnasts add layout one-halfs, three with front punches and two performed newly-acquired double saltos (two aerial flips in one tumbling pass).

“We also had two gymnasts add straddle cuts in their uneven bar routines and three with connecting acro dismounts off the balance beam,” Holloway said. “It is very exciting and rewarding to witness all the success.”

In only the second competition of the season the local high school gymnasts combined for 20 increased personal scores.

Placing in the meet:

Vault

Bayley Carr (MT), 7th/53, 8.05; Maryn Mustain (WCH), 8th/53, 8:05

Uneven bars

McKinley Kelley (MT), 19th/58, 7.5; Claire Robinson (Adena), 21st/58, 7.35; Bayley Carr (MT), 23rd/58, 7.25; Maryn Mustain (WCH), 26th/58, 7.2

Balance beam

Claire Robinson (Adena), 19th/70, 8.125; Kyana Sponseller (MT), 22nd/70, 8.0; Bayley Carr (MT), 28th/70, 7.8

Floor exercise

Bayley Carr (MT), 26th/72, 8.4; McKinley Kelley (MT), 29th/72, 8.35; Zandra West (MT), 38th/72, 8.075; Maryn Mustain (WCH), 39th/72, 8.025

All-Around

Bayley Carr (MT), 17th/39, 31.5; McKinley Kelley (MT), 19th/39, 31.3; Maryn Mustain (WCH), 23rd/39, 30.725; Claire Robinson (Adena), 25th/39, 30.525

The teams will participate in the Worthington Kilbourne Invitational Saturday.

McKinley Kelley performing cartwheel on balance beam.
https://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2022/01/web1_McKinley-Kelley-balance-beam.jpgMcKinley Kelley performing cartwheel on balance beam.

Maryn Mustain jumping into her very first back handspring on balance beam at a competition.
https://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2022/01/web1_Maryn-Mustain-balance-beam.jpgMaryn Mustain jumping into her very first back handspring on balance beam at a competition.

Claire Robinson executes a beautiful front walkover on top of the balance beam.
https://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2022/01/web1_Claire-Robinson-balance-beam.jpgClaire Robinson executes a beautiful front walkover on top of the balance beam. Courtesy photos

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