With their best performance of the season, the Washington-Liberty Generals extended their girls gymnastics campaign with a satisfying and somewhat surprising runner-up finish at the Liberty District championships.
The high-school team, which hosted the meet, had a 131.825 point total, well behind the defending champion McLean Highlanders with 139.825. Washington-Liberty also finished second to McLean last season.
By placing second this year, W-L earned a berth into the 6D North Region competition.
“We’re tickled pink to finish second and keep our season going,” longtime Washington-Liberty coach Joe D’Emidio told ARLnow.
D’Emidio said the team wasn’t sure it could finish among the top three, based on regular-season results. At the district meet, the Generals’ team score was its highest by far this winter.
“We knew McLean was off the charts and we couldn’t beat them,” D’Emidio said. “We were hoping to be third, so we were so happy to get second. To us, that was almost like winning.”
The key to Washington-Liberty’s runner-up score was a strong performance on the floor-exercise routine, the Generals’ last of the meet. In their prior routine on the balance beam, the Generals struggled, with multiple gymnasts falling.
On the floor, they all had scores of eights, clinching second place. Washington-Liberty’s total score on the floor was the team’s highest of the four events at the meet.
“We were strong on the floor and that got us over the hump,” D’Emidio said.
Washington-Liberty’s top gymnast at the meet was sophomore Jori Willford. She placed eighth in the all-around with a 33.375 score. Willford was third on the floor (8.875) and ninth on the beam (8.4).
Junior Lulu Ax tied for ninth in the all-around (32.75), junior Melissa Ramon Lau also tied for ninth (32.75), and sophomore and Australian exchange student Laura Houlihan was 17th (31.575). Houlihan finished third on the vault (8.875) and Ax seventh on the floor (8.65).
McKinley McGee, a junior, and sophomore Jordan Henke were other top performers for W-L.
McGee is primarily a dancer, and a first-time gymnast. She was W-L’s first gymnast to perform on the floor.
D’Emidio said she had a strong dance portion during her routine that scored well and ignited the momentum for other W-L gymnasts.
Also in the team standings, the Yorktown Patriots finished fourth (126.65) and the Wakefield Warriors fifth (125.075).
Wakefield had the all-around champion in Madeleine Wearing with a 36.9 total. She won the vault (9.3), beam (9.5) and the floor (9.6), and tied for fifth on the vault (8.5).
Also for Wakefield, Sophia Cordon was sixth (34.1) and Emerson Reifsteck 26th (24.7) in the all-around. Cordon was sixth on the floor (8.725), fifth on the uneven bars (8.5) and eighth on the beam (8.525).
Leading Yorktown was second-place all-arounder Anya Clemmer with a 35.575 total. She was third on the bars (8.65) and beam (9.325) and tied for fourth on the vault (8.8) and floor (8.8).
Also for Yorktown, Elena Haas was 12th in the all-around (32.675), Zoe Hoang 16th (31.925), Monica Rose Valdiviez 24th (24.9).
