By AVIS HIXON
Tiger Gymnastics Co-Captain
This
past weekend was unquestionably the best weekend our seniors have had in four years.
On Friday, we had our Senior Night at the Towson Center and earned a 194.80, our
highest team score of the year. Then on Sunday, we went to George Washington
University where we "one-upped" ourselves scoring a 195.25.
On Friday, we started off the meet on vault and did great. We continued to do well on bars and then went to beam. There were
multiple falls from other teams on beam but we kept it together and stayed on. We scored our season high beam score of 48.70. Alexa Davis (below) competed for
the first time this season after having elbow surgery in the fall.
Having one of our best sets ever, we
rocked out floor exercise with 5 out of 6 s
cores above a 9.80. This was an especially
good night for Kady Sullivan, who came back from her broken hand and got to compete in
the floor line up for the first time all season. She even matched her career
high score of 9.825. Adding Kady put the whole senior class in the floor line up.
On floor, Alyssa Dittman got us started with a 9.725 and then Kady had her 9.825 score. Lindsay Poplaski followed with a 9.825 score and then Kacy Catanzaro had a 9.875. I was the final senior to compete and I earned a 9.85 score.
Lauren Ross gave Kady the Courageous
Tiger for coming back on floor and earning such a great score.
Winning the meet with such a high
score made Senior Night that much more emotional. After awards, the seniors were
recognized and a slideshow was presented. Everyone but me was crying - I lost it
before the meet in our team meeting.
Following the meet, we had to have an ice
bath. Then we went to a senior celebration at the Green Turtle that was put
together by our parents.
Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Poplaski presented Mr. Attenucci
with an award requiring him to be in charge of carrying on certain traditions
that they had started.
On Saturday we had morning
treatments with the trainers but got the rest of the day off. Sunday morning we
were back on the bus heading to Washington, D.C.
Our dual meet against GW was a
little different than we were used to because we competed one gymnast at a
time (as opposed to each event competing when the judges were ready). This made
it easier for the audience to watch both teams compete but it meant we had to
be extra careful about not watching the other team and we had to work harder to
stay in “our bubble”.
Starting on bars, Kacy won with a
9.9 and Allison Antenucci tied for second with a 9.725. Next, we went to vault where we
swept the top three spots with Kacy scoring another 9.9, Lindsay taking second
with a 9.8 and I placed third with a 9.775. On floor, Britney Russell ended the line up
with a beautiful routine that was her career high score of 9.925. Our beam team
was solid and we took the top two spots; Kacy with a 9.825, and Britney and
Alexa each with a 9.775.
Kady gave the Courageous Tiger to
Alexa for stepping up on beam on such short notice.
After having such a great weekend, we
all feel on top of the world.
We are going to use that energy and confidence
to get us through this short week of practice. On Saturday, we will fight
to bring the ECAC championship trophy back.