In their final tune-up of the regular season, the four county gymnastics teams faced off at Hanover High School last Thursday in a Quad meet. In team competition, the solid and deep Atlee squad walked away with the title, edging out and equally deep Lee-Davis crew 139.7 to 132.3. The young Hanover team took third with 110.9 while the short-handed Patrick Henry team finished with 96.925.

  Each team came into the event with unique expectations on what to get out of the final meet before the Capital-Colonial District/Central Region Championships at Hanover on February 6.

  Atlee looked to fine tune their well-oiled engines in search of one more run at the regional championship. Lee-Davis was looking for a solid all around performance. Hanover wanted to see solid displays from the underclassmen and Patrick Henry wanted to rebound from a string of injuries and illness.

  For the most part, each team met their goals. “I was really pleased with everybody, I mean all four teams,” said Lee-Davis head coach Cy Witherow. “I thought everybody came out and had a good meet.”

  The Confederates Hannah Chenault continued a dazzling season with another All-Around title. Chenault took first in the uneven bars (9.3), third in the vault (8.9), second on the balance beam (9.175) and third on floor (8.8). Chenault’s 36.175 edged out Atlee’s Jaimee MacKay (35.3) and Brianna MacKay (34.3) for the ribbon.

  But Witherow was proud of the performance of his entire team. “Not any of them had a bad night,” he said. “I was real pleased with every one of them. They did exactly what we wanted them to do.”

  The C-feds’ Sarah Wright took fourth on the uneven bars and vault, while teammate Lisa Calton tied for fourth on the vault and Alex Armbrecht took fifth.
  Lee-Davis’ Ashley Berry and Shelby Wingold tied for sixth on the beam.

  Witherow is also pleased with his team as the regionals draw near. “I feel real good,” he said. “I think that we have to really work to beat Deep Run because they beat us at the first of the year, but we didn’t have a real good meet against them. We’re a lot better now than we were then. I’d love for them to take second so the whole team can advance to state. That’s kind of that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, that’s what we aim for.”

  Though Atlee’s Donna Koehler’s Raiders walked away with the team win, she also watched some of her girls stumble and was glad they had the opportunity to perform a test run on the equipment that will be used in the regional in two weeks. “We had some mishaps,” Koehler said. “We had some falls that we hope to get out of the way for regionals, I’d rather them fall tonight. This was big but it was nice to be here to feel the equipment and get used to it.”

  One very noticeable stumble came from junior Cameron Overstreet, a Raider who had virtually dominated local high school competition for three years. Overstreet opened the night with a 8.625 floor routine that earned her a fourth place ribbon then followed that up with an 8.575 on the uneven bars which was good enough for third.

  Next came the vault, one of her strongest events, but Overstreet, who has been doing gymnastics since age three, ran into a mental barrier. Pulling away on three consecutive runs at the vault she came away scoreless. 

  “Cameron Overstreet just had a block on her vault,” Koehler said. “She just didn’t do it. That’s never happened with her before.”

  With a beam routine still in the wings, Koehler gave Overstreet a pep talk. “You know what, nobody’s perfect,” the coach told her gymnast. “We have to make mistakes to be a better person and that’s why it happens. You can come back from that.”

  And come back she did. Overstreet bounced back from her complete collapse on the vault to turn in a brilliant beam routine that earned her a 9.25 and first place ribbon.

  “It was a flawless routine in my eyes,” Koehler said. “To come back from that and never have that happen in her life and she’s been doing gymnastics since she was three…She proved to be a true champion to do that. That’s tough.”

  Often residing in the shadows of Overstreet, Atlee also boasted equal talent from Jessica Nunnally and the MacKay sisters, Jaimee and Brianna. Jaimee won the floor exercise (9.0) tied for second in the vault (9.05), took third on the beam (9.075) and sixth on the bars (8.175). Brianna won the vault (9.125), took second in the floor exercise (8.9) and fifth on the beam (8.75). Nunnally took second in both the uneven bars (8.8) and vault (9.05) and fourth on the beam (8.8).

  “Those four are dynamite and I just love them all like they’re my own kids,” Koehler said.

  Hanover was without the services of one of their top gymnasts Hannah Andrzejewski due to injury but head coach Jessica Moore was pleased with the way the rest of her team stepped up.

  The Hawks team is dominated by sophomores and Moore said they are continuing to improve their routines. Carly Stratton and Amy Waters were the only Hawks to receive ribbons, tying for sixth (8.3) in one of Hanover’s strongest events, the floor.

  Moore also praised the work of Amethyst Tinsley who along with Stratton has been adding to their routing on the bars.

  Moore also pointed out the improvement of sophomore Courtney Pearce on beam. “She’s learned several new tricks this year which is great for her confidence,” Moore said. “But she’s sticking clean routines fairly often.”

  Though the Hawks will most likely be out of the running for the regional title, they still can meet their own goals. “I feel confident,” Moore said. “We may not be one of the top teams but we have our goals that we’ve set that we want to. Amy (Waters) has been to the state before with the same routine that she’s doing now on beam so she has a possibility. If Julie (Palmer) has a good night she has the potential to go.”

  The Patrick Henry lineup has been decimated by injury and illness but head coach Debbie Allgood saw the return of two of her best in the meet.

  The quad marked the triumphant return of senior Lizzie Powell who competed in her first gymnastic meet since being treated for cancer last summer.

  “I was happy that Lizzie competed for me tonight,” Allgood said. “Lizzie’s gone through a lot. She’s my little lion heart and I love her a lot.”

  Still not back in top form, Powell turned in a solid performance in her only two events taking fourth in the vault (8.55) and fifth on the bars (8.325).

  Senior Haley Sellers surprised her coach by competing in three events after missing nearly a week due to illness. Though Sellars did not ribbon, she needed to get in competition prior to the regional meet.

  “She came to me and said she felt better and she wanted to try to do all-around,” Allgood said. “She did pretty good.”

  Allgood hopes to have a full slate on hand for the regionals including the return of top freshman Lauren Early.

Hanover Quad
Atlee 139.7, Lee-Davis 132.3, Hanover 110.9, Patrick Henry 96.925

Individuals: Uneven bars- 1. Hannah Chenault (LD) 9.3; 2. Jessica Nunnally (A) 8.8; 3. Cameron Overstreet (A) 8.575; 4. Sarah Wright (LD) 8.45; 5. Lizzie Powell (PH) 8.325; 6. Jamie Mackay (A) 8.175.

Vault-  1. Brianna Mackay (A) 9.125; t-2. Jaimee Mackay (A) 9.05; t-2. Jessica Nunnally (A) 9.05; 3. Hannah Chenault (LD) 8.9; 4. Sarah Wright (LD) 8.55; t-4. Lizzie Powell (PH) 8.55; t-4. Lisa Calton (LD) 8.55; 5. Alex Aembrecht (LD) 8.2; 6. Emma Bradberry (A) 8.15.

Balance Beam- 1. Cameron Overstreet (A) 9.25; 2. Hannah Chenault (LD) 9.175; 3. Jaimee Mackay (A) 9.075; 4. Jessica Nunnally (A) 8.8; 5. Brianna Mackay (A) 8.75; t-6. Ashley Berry (LD) 8.1; t-6 Shelby Wingold (LD) 8.1.

Floor Exercise-  1. Jaimee Mackay (A) 9.0; 2. Brianna Mackay (A) 8.9; 3. Hannah Chenault (LD) 8.8; 4. Cameron Overstreet (A) 8.625; 5. Chelsea Clarke (A) 8.45; t-6. Carly Stratton (H) 8.3; t-6 Amy Waters (H) 8.3.

All-Around- 1. Hannah Chenault (LD) 36.175; 2. Jaimee Mackay (A) 35.3; 3. Brianna Mackay (A) 34.3; 4. Lisa Calton (LD) 31.05; 5. Emma Bradberry (A) 30.85.