The Emporia High gymnastics squad began its season Thursday with a duel meet at Newton in which the Spartans finished behind Newton by a score of 98.875-89.225.
The Spartans were led by junior Tarra Nichols, who finished first in her favorite event, the uneven parallel bars, with a score of 8.55.
“Tara had a great night on bars and got first place,” coach Barbara Clark said. “There were a couple of skills we left out, so in the future meets she will be scoring more points in that event.”
Nichols’ first-place showing in the bars was the Spartans’ lone event winner, and Haley Risley’s third-place showing in the JV floor exercise was Emporia High’s only other top-three finisher.
Joining Nichols in the bars were seniors Libby England (5.8) and Stephanie Ternes (7.55, 6th place). In the vault, England finished sixth with an 8.25 and Nichols got an 8.5, good for fifth place.
Ternes was the high finisher for EHS in the balance beam, placing fourth with a score of 7.8, and in the floor exercise, England finished fifth (7.25) and Nichols finished sixth (6.85).
In the all-around competition, Emporia’s highest finisher was Nichols, who ended with 30.875 points to finish fifth. Ternes finished right behind Nichols in sixth with 29.475 points, while England ended with 28.6 points.
Newton’s Emilie Doerksen took the all-around title with 32.9 points.
Despite the absence of many high finishes, Clark said she was still pleased with her team’s performance and the fact that many of the competitors received needed experience.
“This meet was a good meet to start with because it was a small meet that I can get everyone in, and there isn’t a lot of pressure on the gymnasts,” Clark said. “We learned a lot about the girls routines and what we need to work on. We video the girls routines so we can look over their techniques and improve on the skills they missed.
“I am excited about the season because they are improving every day.”