New Palestine sophomore JJ Fee placed third on floor, beam, and all-around at Friday’s Franklin Central Regional.
The Daily Reporter File Photo
That old nemesis — the beam — turned out to be a good friend to the New Palestine gymnastics team at Friday’s Franklin Central Regional.
“All year long, I’m, ‘Stay on the beam! Stay on the beam!’ It’s killing our team scores,” New Palestine gymnastics coach Deb Bruns said.
The Dragons not only stayed on the beam, but had the second highest score (26.7) of the six teams participating.
Overall, New Palestine had a season-high score of 105.9, placing third, and earning the final qualifying spot for Saturday’s state finals.
“It was on our agenda to qualify (for state this season),” Bruns added. “We knew we had a good shot, but you also have to stay on beam. We started on beam (Friday) and beam is the killer. The three girls’ scores that counted, all stayed on and that was big. It’s a killer event. It’s a make or breaker.”
The Dragons, winners of their first sectional since 2017, at the Connersville Sectional on Feb. 25, have qualified for the state meet, as a team, for the first time since 2015.
Bloomington North won the regional with a score of 108.625. Columbus North placed second with a total of 107.475. New Palestine finished ahead of Bloomington South (103.3), New Castle (100.8) and Rushville (93.675).
The Dragons had beaten New Castle and Rushville at the Connersville meet. They knew if they could stay ahead of Bloomington South, they’d be headed to Muncie on Saturday to compete with the best in the state.
“I knew we just had to beat Bloomington South. We really didn’t go into looking, ‘Let’s win this.’ These girls see the other teams’ scores and they knew what the other teams were scoring,” Bruns said. “We could beat Bloomington South and we did on every event.
“I had one of my gymnasts (that wasn’t competing) keeping (Bloomington South’s) score and we were following them, which made it perfect. We knew exactly what we needed to score. ‘Here’s what they got. We’ve got to beat that.’”
Another key was having sophomore JJ Fee for the entire meet. Fee was competing in a cheerleading competition the morning of the sectional and missed the team’s first event.
She was there for all of Friday and finished third in two events and the all-around.
Fee was third on beam with a score of 9.45. She followed it with a third on floor exercise with a total of 9.55. She placed fourth on vault with a 9.35 and had an all-around total of 36.825.
Fee had New Palestine’s top score on uneven bars with an 8.475, placing ninth.
Senior Addy Kendall was ninth on beam (8.825) and 12th on bars (8.325). Freshman Lynzie Stiller was 12th on floor with a 9.125.
In the all-around standings, Stiller was 11th (34.225) and Kendall placed 23rd (26.150).
“This is my first time as head coach to be at the state meet with a team and not just an individual or two,” Bruns, who is retiring from coaching after the season, said. “We have not been back to state since COVID in 2020 when we had a couple girls. They’re pretty excited and I’m pretty excited for them.”
It is the fifth team appearance overall for the Dragons, including 2004, 2005, 2013 and 2015.
The state finals will take place in Muncie at Ball State University’s Worthen Arena Saturday.
Opening ceremonies begin at 11 a.m. with competition scheduled to start at 11:45 a.m.
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2023 IHSAA Gymnastics State Finals
Date: Saturday, March 11
Site: Worthen Arena, Ball State University, 1699 W. Bethel Avenue, Muncie.
Time: Doors open to spectators at 10 am ET; Opening ceremonies at 11 am ET; Competition at 11:30 am ET.
Admission: $15 per person. All ticketing is being handled digitally through your mobile phone and may be purchased in advance via GoFan. Patrons will enter at Gate 1 on the northeast side of the facility.
