7s State Champs Again!

OTW's Level 7 Team clinched the championship banner for a second year, despite some very strong competition at this year's State Championships. This year's state competition was divided by age groups, into two sessions. Kayla, Courtney, Hillary and Allison were in the first session. Melinda, LaNaya and Jess were in the second session. OTW Team mates from all the other levels were on hand to cheer (loudly) from the sidelines.

The girls of the first session were having a good day. Courtney was as solid as ever turning in three 9s and posting her season high All-Around, 36.300. (A good day to do that) Kayla, too, was hitting everything, 9.40 on Vault, 9.325 on Bars, and also pushed to her season high All-Around of 36.825. Allison was unstoppable on every event, putting her All-Around at 37.85. Hillary was a turbocharged scoring machine! 9.55 on Vault, 9.6 on Bars. Her All-Around was 37.575.

This foursome had amassed an outstanding tentative team score of 112.250 already. Team totals for Vault (28.625) and Bars (28.30) were already impressive. If anything, they left a little for their second session team mates to do on Beam and Floor. That's just what they did.

On Floor, the older girls added .375 to the team total. On Vault and Bars there wasn't much to do, but they added .05 from Vault and .175 on Bars anyhow. They boosted the team score for Beam by .275. All totaled, the OTW 7s' final team score was a season-high 113.125.

While that was certainly impressive, the competition was not watching idly by. The NEGTC girls had apparently been drinking lots of energy drinks. Girls who had been a bit "off" at Sectionals were solidly "on" at States. They were scoring some very big numbers. OTW Boosters who tried to track the other teams scores wondered if NEGTC might have scored enough to squeak into first. It seemed that close.

At awards, there were many medals around OTW necks. In the 12 yr old division, Allison took gold in everything except one silver on Beam. Allison is the State Champion in the 12 yr olds. Hillary took home two golds for Vault and Bars, a silver on Floor. Hillary is State Champion in the 13-14 age group. Kayla took silver on Vault and All-Around. Melinda took the silver on Bars. Courtney ranks 5th in the state on Floor and All-Around. LaNaya took the silver on Beam and Floor, and the Bronze in the All-Around. Jess took home gold on Vault, Bars and Floor, and silver in the All-Around.

As the announcer read off the team scores, the OTW 7s all assembled into their traditional "pinky ring". Atlantic took 3rd with a 111.675. When the announcer called NEGTC as 2nd with a 112.40, all the OTW girls burst into excited smiles and high-fives. They had done it again! Lightning might not strike twice but solid skill sure does! Congratulations girls! Feel free to scream (though outdoors would be nice) :-)