NEW PALESTINE — There were two choices and two potential outcomes.
Either the New Palestine Dragons gymnastics team could let fate decide and possibly miss out on a regional spot, or it could take destiny into its own hands with a top-three placement.
The Dragons chose the latter during Saturday’s Connersville Sectional, and on their final apparatus they secured a team regional advancement, finishing second overall.
Defending sectional team champion Richmond won the meet with a tally of 110.150, but the Dragons gritted out a team score of 102.600 to stay ahead of third-place Connersville (99.775).
The top-three teams from each sectional site move on to the regional tournament, while the top-six individuals in each of the four events also qualify.
Last year, the Dragons placed third to earn a regional berth. This time around, however, while they improved their placement, it required more than execution.
It demanded nearly all they had left — quite literally.
“We pretty much knew Richmond was probably going to walk away with it. They have a defending state champion on their team, so we expected that, but there were literally four teams fighting for second and third place,” Dragons head coach Debbie Bruns said.
“We were kind of like, ‘OK, we can walk away with second or we can walk away with fourth or fifth and not get out. It’s really up to you guys.’ I was really proud of them because we hit 16 out of 16 routines. That’s hard to do on a good day with no pressure, and there was a little bit of pressure.”
As the final team to compete on beam, the spotlight beamed directly on each of the four competing Dragons once they mounted the 16-feet, 5-inch long plank with no more than four inches of wiggle room in width.
If the Dragons could stick their fashioned routines, then they were safe. If not, then it was anyone’s guess how the scores would add up.
“The rest of the meet had basically finished before we got on beam, and we had been sitting there for 30 minutes, so then you’re cold. We went out into the hallway. I had them walk up and down the steps a couple of times, trying to get them warmed back up,” Bruns said. “We did some dance routines in the hallway while we were waiting.”
Beyond the mental toll of playing the waiting game prior to the beam, the Dragons had to find a way not to lose their physical momentum, which hasn’t been an easy task this season.
At several points this year, every Dragon has faced or contended with on-going injury, though they rarely showed it while competing.
Frosh JJ Fee, who had impressive runs on bars (seventh), beam (fifth) and floor (sixth), has been slowed all year due to a chronic back injury. Fee entered high school with a substantial club career behind her through Gymnastics Unlimited and the Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center.
Unable to compete on vault at sectional due to her inability to run without pain, Fee has tailored her routines to her current capabilities. On beam, she gutted out a solid performance to score a 9.075 for fifth — the best placement among her teammates.
“She has a pretty significant back injury that she came into the season with, so it’s a chronic condition. We’ve just slowly added skills back into her routines to get her start value up. She pushed herself to kind of get some of those things done,” Bruns said. “She had a really good meet, but our top-three girls are all injured, and they just basically pushed it aside to get it done.”
Senior Kennedy Garrett, who finished seventh in the all-around as the lone Dragon to tackle all four events, was sixth on beam with an 8.825. Junior Addyson Kendall took seventh at 8.800.
Garrett has been battling an Achilles tear this season, which she suffered as a track and field hurdler last spring. Kendall has been slowed by an ankle injury.
All three, in addition to senior Alyse Rickey, have had to overcome physical setbacks this winter and through the early portion of the postseason.
“It’s hard because these kids are such good athletes and so talented, and yet, injuries have really held them back this year,” Bruns said.
Much like their 15-3 record this season showed, the Dragons refused to let their limitations determine the outcome.
“They all nailed it. They all stuck it,” Bruns said. “Barely a wobble in there.”
On vault, Garrett paced the Dragons with an 8.675 for 11th. Junior Emily Hunter finished 13th and freshman Chiara Polo was 16th.
Kendall had the highest placement in any event for New Palestine on bars, taking third with an 8.500. Fee was seventh with an 8.400. Rickey and Garrett placed 12th and 13th, respectively.
On floor, Fee set the tone with an 8.700 for sixth. Kendall followed her up with an 8.500 for 11th. Garrett was 13th with an 8.425.
Every point led up to the finale, and the beam.
“We were in second place, so they knew they just had to go up there and hit and we were going to get second place. They went on knowing that, and they did,” Bruns said. “We killed it on beam. It was definitely really exciting. As one girl went up there and stuck it, the next girl went up there and stuck it. We know at that point, even if the third or fourth girl fell five times we were pretty secure at that point. But, we were sweating early.”
Rickey added an 11th-place finish on the beam with an 8.425. As a team, the Dragons tallied the second-best beam score at 26.700, trailing only Richmond at 28.175.
New Palestine’s lowest team cumulative score came on vault (25.475), which was fifth-best. They were second-best on both bars (24.800) and floor (25.625).
“It’s almost harder to finish on beam than it is to start on beam. The beginning of a meet you have a lot of adrenaline. You start on beam and you generally fall off a bunch. At the end of the day, when you finish on beam, a lot of times, if you’re the last team, everything else is done, so everybody is staring at you. There’s no background music going on. People are tearing apart the gym in the background,” Bruns said. “It’s hard to focus, so we put music on and cranked it up really loud and it worked.”
The Dragons will now compete at the Franklin Central Regional this Friday at 6 p.m. The event will take place at The Gymnastics Company and include qualifying teams from the Connersville and Columbus East Sectionals.
2022 Connersville Gymnastics Sectional
Team Scores: Richmond 110.150, New Palestine 102.600, Connersville 99.775, Rushville 97.700, New Castle 97.575, Shelbyville 86.050, Morristown 76.700, Franklin County 31.650.
New Palestine Individual Results
Vault: Kennedy Garrett (8.675), 11th; Emily Hunter (8.450), 13th; Chiara Polo (8.350), 16th; Maliah Ringham (8.250), 19th.
Bars: Addyson Kendall (8.500), 3rd; JJ Fee (8.400), 7th; Alyse Rickey (7.900), 12th; Kennedy Garrett (7.800), 13th.
Beam: JJ Fee (9.075), 5th; Kennedy Garrett (8.825), 6th; Addyson Kendall (8.800), 7th; Alyse Rickey (8.425), 11th.
Floor: JJ Fee (8.700), 6th; Addyson Kendall (8.500), 11th; Kennedy Garrett (8.425), 13th; Chiara Polo (7.250), 21st.
All-Around: Kennedy Garrett (33.725), 7th.
