Mason gymnastics team / Photo provided
Marc Hardin reports:
Audrey Harpen and Lindsey Colton helped their Mason teammates hold the trophy Saturday after the Comets won their fifth consecutive gymnastics city championship with 139.525 points at Cincinnati Country Day.
Harpen, winner on the vault, floor and all-around, posed for pictures. Colton, sixth all-around, hugged teammates. Off to the side, Mason coach Kelly Wones cheered their accomplishments.
“The girls who started this five years ago raised the bar at our school and set it really high,” Wones said. “That brought a lot of attention to the program, and more girls started coming out for gymnastics. These are those girls and they really want to keep that tradition of winning the city.”
Harpen, a junior, scored 9.25 while winning the vault for the second year in a row. She won the floor exercise with a score of 9.15. She finished fifth on the balance beam and 11th on the uneven bars. She repeated as all-around champion with a score of 35.050.
“It gives me a lot of confidence because I want to get back to state,” said Harpen, who qualified for last year’s OHSAA meet in the floor, vault and all-around events, helping Mason place fourth.
Colton’s top finishes at the city championships were fourth on the uneven bars, ninth on the floor and 10th on vault. Mason had the top four on the vault with runner-up Brook Middleton, third-place Gaby Sora and Maggie Fewell.
The district meet is Saturday at Lakota East. The state championships are the following week in Columbus.
Rounding out the top five at Saturday’s 12-team event were runner-up Lakota East (131), third-place Anderson (129.125), fourth-place Turpin (122.225) and Hamilton (115.950).
Junior Natalie Potts, a state qualifier as a freshman, won the balance beam and was second in the floor exercise for Lakota East. She missed last year’s city meet with a bulging disc in her back.
“I’m very delighted,” Potts said. “I just made sure I worked all summer to get my strength back.”
Emily Caggiano, second in the all-round, third on the uneven bars and sixth on the beam, paced Anderson. Turpin’s Rebecca Swertfeger won on the uneven bars and was third all-around.
Posted in: Uncategorized |
