MI breaks 170, third at districts

Published 5:56 pm Monday, November 24, 2008

By Matt Phelps

The Mercer Island girls gymnastics team achieved one of its goals for the season, Saturday night during the district meet at Sammamish High School, by scoring over 170 points as a team. The problem was that they finished the meet 1.6 points behind Issaquah for second place and a trip to state as a team.

“It was definitely one of our goals, but it is sweet and sour,” said Mercer Island gymnastics coach Lenny Lewis. “Issaquah just had a better meet tonight.”

The Islanders scored 170.55 during the meet as Bainbridge Island took first with 174.7 points.

“We had some falls that really hurt us, but they all did really well,” said Lewis.

Once again, the Islanders were led by junior Kelsey Ingram, who took fourth in all-around with a score of 36.775. The placing was good enough to advance Ingram to state in all-around.

“We gave it the best we had,” said Ingram. “It was an awesome meet. We were definitely stronger this year. The underclassmen really stepped up.”

Ingram’s best performance of the night came on beam, as she never fell and had just one slight wobble on a turn. The junior stuck the landing and earned second place overall on beam, with a 9.45.

“State is just like any other meet,” said Ingram. “I just want to go out and have fun.”

Ingram took third during the floor exercise, with a 9.45 and fourth on vault (9.2). The junior added a move on bars that the judges could not figure out how to score. The move ended up hurting Ingram’s score, placing her eighth over all at 8.675.

Islander Ashley Wedlake will compete at state on vault, bars and floor. Wedlake, who tied Ingram during the KingCo meet on vault, barely missed tying her again. Her vault score of 9.175 gave her a fifth-place finish. Wedlake had the Islanders’ highest score on bars, with an 8.775 and earned seventh on floor (9.15).

“My fall on beam is my only regret,” said Wedlake. “We had a lot of falls tonight, but we still scored really high.”

A slip on her dismount at the end of the beam exercise cost the senior a second-straight trip to state in all-around as she finished the event with an 8.15.

“This team has such a great bond,” said Wedlake. “This is a great way to end the season for the team, even though we wont go to state.”

Islander freshman Olivia Harvey will take her first trip to the state meet on beam. An 8.975 was good enough to place Harvey in sixth.

“We were so close,” said Harvey. “We were really excited. We knew it would be close.”

Islander Galit Almosnino came back to compete in all of the events at districts after fracturing her collar bone earlier this season. Almosnino will have another chance to compete at the state meet, as she qualified on floor exercise with a score of 8.75.

Mimi Maritz will also go to state, but on beam. Her score of 8.425 was good enough to qualify her in the event.

The state meet will be held Saturday at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Center.

“We are just going to continue as we have been with no changes,” said Lewis. “I am really proud of all the girls.”