Bloomington North gymnastics wins first regional title since 1981

Sofie Garcia was fourth in the all-around with three 9s to lead the Bloomington North gymnastics team to its first regional title since 1981 on Friday at Franklin Central.

Bloomington South will also be represented at state for the first time since 2017 with senior Mia Langley making it on beam and junior Maddie Kawanishi on floor.

North, which made it to the state finals last year for the first time since that same '81 squad, scored a 108.625 to edge Columbus North (107.475), with New Palestine taking third (105.9) over South (103.3), which still had one of its best scores of the season. But only the top three teams advance to Ball State next Saturday.

CN was the best scoring team on vault and bars, while North prevailed by a slightly wider margin on beam and floor. North had a 27.6 on beam and a 28.225 on floor.

Garcia, a sophomore, was a force for the Cougars, posting a 36.725. She was fourth on floor (9.5), fifth on beam (9.375), sixth on bars (8.725) and eighth on vault (9.125).

North's Hope Taylor tied for second on vault (9.45) and tied for eighth on floor (9.275) and Jessica Floyd was fourth on beam (9.425) and fifth on floor (9.45). Claire Dann was 10th on beam (8.8).

South pair advance

Kawanishi (34.575) and Langley (34.325) went 9-10 in the all-around. Kawanishi tied for seventh on bars (8.6) and Langley was seventh on floor (9.375) as both just missed adding to their state loads.

Kawanishi did score a 9.425 on floor to move on while Langley had a 9.175 on beam. Both were sixth.

"Mia's been working for four years and her scores were just not falling in a good place," Stroud said. "She was the fourth one to go on beam, so the fact her score held up is a big deal. She deserves it and we're super excited.

"Maddie's been adding difficulty and has been pushing herself to do more. She hit her routine nicely tonight. She had a great routine and I'm glad she has the opportunity to go."

But as a team, the Panthers came up just a tad short. New Pal had the third best team scores on vault, bars and floor and was second on beam.

"New Pal was really clean," Stroud said. "You could tell they really wanted it. I told the girls all week that those girls wanted it and they'd have to come in the same way. They did and our 103,4 was one of our higher scores of the season.

"The whole team hit floor beautifully, probably the best we have all season. The judge even complimented us. They always remind the girls to smile and have fun and we did that. Beam, we struggled a little bit. We had some falls, which definitely hurt us. We came back and hit bars and we had one fall on vault. But Alex Riggs stuck her landing on both vaults for the first time all season."

But Stroud is just happy for one more week with her last team.

"It's a great way to end my career," she said.

FRANKLIN CENTRAL REGIONAL

Team scores (top 3 advance to state): 1. Bloomington North 108.625; 2. Columbus North 107.475; 3. New Palestine 105.9; 4. Bloomington South 103.3; 5. New Castle 100.8; 6. Rushville 93.675.

Individual results (top 6 in each advance to state)

Vault: 1. Reece Euler, CN, 9.675; T2. Lilly Boyd, Martinsville, 9.45; Hope Taylor, BN, 9.45; 6. Gabby Grubb, Martinsville, 9.275. (8. Sofie Garcia, BN, 9.125; T11. Jessica Floyd, BN, 8.85; T14. Mia Langley, BS, 8.775; 17. Stella Eibling, BS, 8.725; T18. Claire Dann, BN, 8.7; 25. Alex Riggs, BS, 8.1.)

Bars: 1. Boyd, Martinsville, 9.1; 2. Lindsey Mullis, CN, 9.075; 6. Garcia, BN, 8.725. (T7. Maddie Kawanishi, BS, 8.6; 11. Hannah Abel, BN, 8.35; 13. Taylor, BN, 8.3; 17. Maddie Rich, BN, 7.825; T18. Sayen Antinao, BS, 7.8; 22. Eibling, BS, 7.2; 23. Langley, BS, 7.0.)

Beam: 1. Euler, CN, 9.55; 2. Dykes, FC, 9.5; 4. Floyd, BN, 9.425; 5. Garcia, BN, 9.375; 6. Langley, BS, 9.175. (10. Dann, BN, 8.8; 11. Rich, BN, 8.725; 13. Violet Leis, BS, 8.5; 14. Kawanishi, BS, 8.45.)

Floor: 1. Euler, CN, 9.625; 2. Dykes, FC, 9.575; 4. Garcia, BN, 9.5; 5. Floyd, BN, 9.45; 6. Kawanishi, BS, 9.425. (7. Langley, BS, 9.375; T8. Taylor, BN, 9.275; 17. Leis, BS, 8.8; 18. Eibling, BS, 8.75; 20. Dann, BN, 8.45.

All-Around: 1. Euler, CN, 37.65; 2. Dykes, FC, 37.35; 4. Garcia, BN, 36.725; 5. Boyd, Martinsville, 35.975; (9. Kawanishi, BS, 34.575; 10. Langley, BS, 33.325; 14. Eibling, BS, 32.7.)

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com or 812-331-4381 and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IHSAA gymnastics: Bloomington North wins regional title