A 9.8 vault is North clincher for Masco
NORTHBOROUGH — Vasko Vetzev didn’t necessarily want Bella Misiura, Masconomet’s star gymnast, to do her Yurchenko full vault at the MIAA North gymnastics sectional Saturday afternoon.
“My coach wanted me to do a Yurchenko layout,” said Misiura. “But I have been doing a Yurchenko full in club all season. I told him I was doing it.”
She did the difficult vault in the final rotation, even though her Masconomet team had the lead. It scored a 9.8, the highest score of the day, and solidified the Chieftains’ North win over Central Catholic, 149.925-147.200, in the meet at Algonquin Regional.
Masconomet, the defending state champion, had the highest scores on three of the four apparatus: vault, uneven bars, and balance beam. Only Central Catholic bested the Chieftains on floor exercise.
Misiura finished second in the allaround, and teammate Fallon Eberhardt finished fourth.
Central Catholic, the defending North champion capable of scoring in the 150s, played a long game, playing it safe with a few of its top gymnasts so they could be in top form at next week’s state final.
Kaylee Wescott (38.725) won the allaround to lead Danvers/Lynnfield to third place (149.925).
Despite coming in as the seventh seed, Wilmington/Bedford (139.775) moved up to fourth, clinching the last spot at states, thanks to Alissa Ganley’s 36.8 all-around finish.
Mansfield soars in South
Mansfield entered the final rotation of the South sectional in fifth place, one spot out of earning a spot to next week’s state championships. All the pressure was on the Hornets’ final vaulter, junior Andrew Znoj.
“I didn’t feel a ton of pressure,” said Znoj, who won the vault title at Monday’s state individual meet. “I’ve done that vault hundreds of times.”
With the entire meet watching — including gymnasts for the later North sectional crowded in the doorways — Znoj hit his Yurchenko layout, earning a 9.7 and helping lift Mansfield to the sectional title with an overall score of 142.550, just .125 more than Medway/Holliston/Millis/Milford.
The extremely close meet saw several changes in the leaderboard throughout the morning. Mansfield placed in the top four in every event, but its fourth-place finishes on balance beam and floor exercise had the Hornets in fifth before a vault rotation that ended the best of the day.
Medway/Holliston/Millis/Milford used a beautiful and consistent balance beam rotation to solidify its second-place finish. With impressive skills, including several routines with difficult acro skills, its 35.875 on the apparatus was tops in the South.
Medfield/Ashland/Dover-Sherborn (141.725) came into the sectional seeded sixth, but leapfrogged two higher-seeded teams to earn third, thanks to a stellar floor exercise rotation with clean routines and great depth.
Brockton/East Bridgewater led the meet after three rotations, including a standout floor exercise lineup that led the meet with a team score of 36.825. However, despite the meet’s second-best uneven bars in the last rotation of the meet, it dropped to fourth but still earned the last spot to states.