Emporia High gymnast Tarra Nichols continued her recent run of strong performances Thursday night, earning three first-place finishes in a dual with Newton.
As she did Tuesday night at the EHS Invite, Nichols won both the floor and the uneven parallel bar events, winning on the floor with a 9.0 and taking first on the bars with a 9.1.
Coupled with a third-place finish on the beam with a season-best 8.20 and an 8.4 score on the vault, and it all added up to a first-place showing in the All-Around competition for Nichols. She ended with a personal-best score of 34.60, which was enough to beat out Newton’s Kylie Jantz by .30 points.
“Tarra had an awesome night,” EHS coach Barbara Clark said.
Newton won the dual against the Lady Spartans, outscoring EHS 101.45-90.00.
Nichols was Emporia’s lone All-Around competitor, as Hayley Fry is still recovering from a knee injury suffered last week. Fry still competed in two events, placing fifth on the beam with a 7.9 and taking seventh on the bars with a 6.7.
Elsewhere for EHS, Jamie Hollern (7.6) placed seventh, Haley Risley (7.4) finished eighth and Kayla Baker (5.7) was ninth on the vault. On the bars, Calle Arndt (5.1) was eighth, Risley (4.0) was ninth and Kristina McAuley (3.6) was 10th.
Hollern (6.4) finished eighth on the beam, with McAuley (6.3) and Risley (6.2) placing ninth and 10th, respectively. On the floor, Jennie Loucks (7.3) came in seventh, Hollern (7.0) was eighth and Arndt (6.2) placed ninth.
Next up for Emporia will be Regionals next Saturday at Emporia High.