Gymnasts gear up for home Falcon Invite

By Dan Truttschel

Sports Correspondent

 

Several of the top teams in the state will converge on Westosha Central High School Saturday morning for the 30th annual Falcon Gymnastics Invitational.

Action the 12-team meet begins at 10 a.m. The awards ceremony will begin about 3:15 p.m.

Scheduled to compete are several of the top teams in the state, including last year’s Division 1 state champion, Franklin/Muskego/Whitnall/Oak Creek, and the state runner-up, Burlington/Badger/Wilmot, and the Division 1 third-place team, Hartland Arrowhead.

Kenosha Combined and Janesville Craig are also in the field, as is Southwestern/Cuba City – two other top 10-worthy teams in Divisions 1 and 2, respectively.

Joining those schools are host Westosha Central/Union Grove, Waterford, New Trier (Ill.), Milton, Brookfield East/Central and Janesville Parker.

Six teams scored a score of better than 138 and three topped 140 at the event a year ago, and longtime Central coach Bill Price expects a similar display this time around.

“Again, we have some really fascinating gymnasts and strong teams (entered),” he said in an e-mail.

The meet record is 146.6, set by Racine Park in 2004. That squad is considered the “state’s best overall team,” Price said.

Individual records set at the meet include 9.8 on the bars by Burlington’s Shanna Popp in 2002 and tied by Racine’s Jenna D’Alie in 2004; the all-around mark of 37.6, set by Racine’s Queenita Gamble in 2004; the floor record of 9.65 by Janesville Parker’s Erika Whitson in 2010; the vault record of 9.65 by Central’s Jesse Laho in 2005; and the beam record of 9.625 by Racine’s Melissa miller in 2008.

“All of the individual records in this meet are 9.65 or higher, and it will take a great day by any gymnast to break them,” Price said. “But the 9.8 record on bars by (Popp and D’Alie) could be untouchable.”

 


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