Eights Excite !

It couldn't get much more exciting than this. Forecaster Jim Nast sure called this one, when he said it would be BIG! The championship came down to the last competitor on the last event of the meet. Total nail-biter material. In the morning, the Level 7 Team pulled off a victory that also went down to the last event. The 8s found themselves in almost the exact same situation. The Atlantic 8s were in good form. Atlantic started on Vault, OTW started on Floor. After the first rotation, OTW had a narrow lead. After the second rotation, OTW still had a small lead. There was some very high scores on both sides. At the last rotation, Atlantic was on Floor -- their strongest event. OTW was on Beam -- their weakest event. The Atlantic girls were excellent, turning some very high Floor scores. OTW wasn't having too good a start on Beam.

High Drama on Beam
What lead OTW had, was gone halfway through the last rotation. Atlantic's girls were red hot on Floor. All other gymnasts were done competing, except OTW's last four competitors on Beam: Courtney, Alyssa, Allison, and LaNaya. The team needed a rotation score of 27.45 to win. Courtney gave them a good start with a 9.125. Alyssa turned in an awesome 9.325 on Beam. With that big boost, it came down to the last competitor: LaNaya. No one else was competing. All eyes were on her. (no pressure!) OTW needed a 9.00 from LaNaya. She stuck her series, but on her full turn, she looked like she was going to fall. A collective gasp rose from the many OTW fans in the stands. LaNaya held on. The rest of her routine went smoothly. Her final score of 9.05 was enough to push the OTW team ahead by 0.075. Talk about close! Where are those defibrillators? Open some windows!

Heavy Medal
After such a championship effort, it was only natural that all of the girls were up for awards. Melinda was up for her Vault and her very nice Bars routine. OTW's golden girls were Kayla, gold on Vault (9.55!) and Floor in the 15+ age group, and Alyssa, gold on Vault, Bars (a 9.70!!) and All Around, 13-14 age group. Silver medals went to Alyssa for Beam, Allison for Bars, LaNaya for Bars and Beam and Kayla for All Around. Bronze medals went to Courtney for Beam, Allison for All Around, Jess for Floor and LaNaya for All Around. What an awesome team!

Nail Biting
At the awards ceremony, everyone knew it was very very close. Tristar took 5th. Granite State took 4th. Gym Village took 3rd. It was down to just Atlantic and OTW. On paper, OTW's 111.950 had narrowly edged out Atlantic's 111.875, but there was still the possibility that one of the scores had been flashed wrong. The many OTW fans in the stands, clutching their score sheets in nervous hands, knew that their numbers were unofficial. No one could relax yet. When the announcer called Atlantic up for 2nd place, the fans erupted into cheers. The OTW girls (who had been locked in a tightly clinched pinky ring) burst into screams of amazed delight. Oh sure, the meet organizer left the banners at home (hence the pasted over one on the photo above), but no matter. They were State Champions -- again! This is the same team that was Level 7 State Champion in 2006 and again in 2007. There's no doubt about it. They've all proven that they've got what it takes. They're all champions.

Way...To...Go...Girls! It's going to take a solid week for your many fans to calm down.