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Bombers edge West Geauga for CVC gymnastics crown
(by Tony Lange - February 09, 2011)
Bombers edge West Geauga for CVC gymnastics crown
By TONY LANGE
Kenston's gymnastics team vaulted its way to a Chagrin Valley Conference championship after winning last Thursday's nine-team meet.
Led by senior Kristina Lewandowski and sophomores Erica Savin, Brittany Pike and Marina Robertson, the Lady Bombers scored 122.8 points to edge West Geauga, which tallied 122.35.
Kenston head coach Melissa Procop said a half-point is extremely close for a team score in gymnastics.
"That could be one simple fall on any routine. That's it," she said. "For Kenston, it was pretty intense because obviously everybody wants to win. We knew that West Geauga was likely our biggest competition. We knew it was going to be close throughout the meet."
Savin led the way for the Bombers with 33.45 points in the all-around, which combines the vault, bars, beam and floor routines. Her score was good for third place overall in the meet. She received first-team honors on the bars, where she scored an 8.5.
"It means a lot because I work so hard for it and I'm only a sophomore, and I hope I can get better in the next two years. I try to work hard on everything and spend a lot of time to make my all-around the best." Savin said. "I'm proud that our whole team got first and we all worked really hard, and we all helped out in winning."
Lewandowski placed fifth in the all-around with 32.15 points. She received first-team CVC honors in the floor routine, where she scored an 8.15.
Kenston followed West Geauga in rotation at each event and the Lady Bombers knew it was a close contest, Lewandowski said.
"I could tell we were close the whole time and then we struggled on beam, so I knew it was going to come down to floor," she said. "One of the parents was calculating the scores and the last two people on the floor had to get an eight to beat them. So we didn't exactly know, but I had an idea that it was going to be close."
In January, Kenston outscored West Geauga, 125.175 to 123.4, during an eight-team meet on the Wolverines' home turf.
"We were very close against them before, so we really had to work on not falling to beat them," Savin said.
At the CVC championship meet, however, West Geauga was not the only other contender for the title. Cuyahoga Heights finished third with 120.2 points and Chagrin Falls was fourth with 118.9 points.
Lewandowski said the competition sometimes makes her a little antsy.
"For me, it's always nerve-racking, especially because it's my senior year and I wanted to do good," she said. "We really wanted to win and pull this off again. We tried to stay calm and supportive. You could feel it in the air, but we were trying to have fun."
In each of the four routines, six girls from each team are allowed to compete and the top four scores are counted toward the team totals. Savin, Lewandowski, Pike and Robertson contributed all of the Bombers' points. Pike finished with 28.85 all-around and Robertson had 28.3.
When the Lady Bombers heard the final score, they all started cheering and screaming and were really excited to accomplish their goal and win CVC, Pike said.
"It was kind of really suspenseful the whole meet," she said. "We were all really excited and really anxious to do our best. It was really good when it all came together at the end and we were able to beat them out by a half a point. So, everybody's efforts counted."
Last season, Kenston shared the CVC title with Chagrin Falls.
This season, the Lady Bombers beat every CVC team in the regular season.
"Winning this meet meant we would be the CVC champs alone and not tied," Procop said. "They were very proud. They were very excited and just felt very united as a team."
Five of the 10 gymnasts on Kenston's team are sophomores.
"I think it means we can only get better from here," Procop said. "It is such a good outlook for such a young team because we have a lot of potential. They all work very hard to get to this point. There is a lot of dedication and determination and pride and positive attitudes. They all work very hard."
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