Senior Hayley Fry had a night to remember Tuesday at the Olathe North Triangular, coming through with a season-best score to take second in the All-Around competition.
Fry finished tied for second on the floor, finished third on the vault and picked up a pair of fifth-place finishes on the bars and on the beam to end her night with a score of 32.7, which put her just .05 points back of the All-Around champion, Karianne Hoff of Olathe South (32.75).
EHS gymnastics coach Barbara Clark said Fry competed hard despite a nagging knee injury.
“She’s been working on a new vault, and they might be what’s aggravating her knee,” Clark said. “But I was really proud of the way she worked through it. She looked really strong on the floor and on the bars, and she had a no-fall routine on the beam, which, you can’t ask for much more than that.”
Emporia as a team finished third behind Olathe South (102.0) and Olathe North (91.3) with a score of 90.65.
“We were right there with Olathe South, which is good because we’ll see them in our Regionals,” Clark said. “That’s good for the girls to see that we’re not that far away.”
Also having an impressive night was Tarra Nichols, who finished right behind Fry in the All-Around competition with a score of 32.65 to put her in third place.
Nichols tied with Fry for second in the floor exercise with a score of 8.5, came in third on the bars (8.05) and also had a season-best score of 7.9 on the beam. Nichols finished with an 8.2 on the vault.
Emporia as a team had good overall performances on both the beam and the floor, turning in season-best team totals in each event.
On the beam, aside from Fry and Nichols, Kayla Baker (7.0), Kelsey Downs (7.0), Kristina McAuley (6.1) and Calle Arndt (5.7) all turned in season-best scores for the event. Jamie Hollern also finished with a 7.0.
“I was pleased with the improvement we made on the beam,” Clark said. “The girls have been working hard on their routines, and it showed.”
On the floor exercise, the three other EHS competitors besides Fry and Nichols finished with season- best scores: Hollern came in with a 7.95, Jennie Loucks had a 7.45 and Arndt finished with a 7.35.
“The girls looked like they were having fun with their routines,” Clark said.
Elsewhere, Hollern finished with a 7.7 and Haley Risley score a 7.2 on the vault while Risley got a 2.95 and Arndt received a 2.65 on the bars.
Emporia High is off for a week before playing host to the Emporia Invitational at 6 p.m. next Tuesday in the EHS gymnasium.