Hampton’s Jones breaks WPIAL all-around individual mark

The energetic environment Saturday at Moon High School really only affected WPIAL individual allaround champion Katrina Jones on vault.

“Everything, for the most part, went smoothly, except for my vault,” the Hampton sophomore said. “I only did one because it was too loud and I couldn’t concentrate.”

Even then, Jones placed second on vault with a 9.825. She swept the other events with a 9.750 on bars, a 9.700 on beam and a 9.650 on floor to finish with a 38.925 allaround score, which broke a WPIAL record.

The individual championships began at 10 a.m. and didn’t conclude until close to 6 p.m., so Jones was glad for the competition to come to a close.

“It feels good,” Jones said. “It was fun. It was a long day.”

Taylor Johnson of Burrell placed second in the allaround competition with a 38.000, and Tara Gologram of Keystone Oaks placed third at 37.600.

The WPIAL individual championship followed up the team championship Friday, which host Moon claimed.

A nagging loss to North Allegheny might have been a blessing in disguise for Moon.

The 0.4-point loss Feb. 2 denied Moon a perfect season, but refocused the team on its way to a WPIAL team championship. With a total score of 146.125, Moon had three solid, no-fall routines on the balance beam to edge Thomas Jefferson (144.775), Hampton (143.175), West Allegheny (140.350), North Allegheny (139.900) and South Side Beaver (137.025).

“It was kind of like a wakeup call, honestly,” senior Megan Meneskie, who placed fifth on vault in individual competitions, said of the loss. “Once that happened, we just worked so much harder. And we would’ve thought that WPIALs would’ve been a breeze without that win. So from there we just picked it up and kept going.”

Moon placed first in vault (37.300), beam (35.850) and floor (36.925), as well as second in bars (36.050). The team has struggled with injuries this season, and Friday was no different — when one gymnast when down with an injury, three alternates stepped into her place with little warning.

Winning with substitutes having to take the place of an injured teammate speaks to the depth of Moon’s team, coach Amy Caprino said.

“Those kids went in without really warming up, they just stepped up and took it then,” Caprino said. “So that was nice… and that was our strong point for Moon. We don’t have a lot of superstars. We just have a whole lot of depth.”