THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502090191
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 21 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, BEACON SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
THE TUNEUPS ARE DONE and now it's time for Beach District gymnasts to flip and fly for real.
The Beach District gymnastics meet which begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at Cox High is for all the marbles - the end of the road for some and a springboard to the next level for others. At stake is the opportunity to advance to the following Saturday's Eastern Region meet at Newport News' Warwick High.
Unfortunately for some, the tuning up has been costly.
Kempsville has been riddled with injuries, Tallwood's No. 2 gymnast is reportedly out, and the top gymnast in the area in Kellam's Brooke Sawyer possibly might be out for the rest of the season.
Sawyer, who set a Beach all-around record with a 38.2 score against Cox, is suffering from a compression fracture in a knee and the decision has not yet been made as to whether she will compete.
Sawyer has been touted as the gymnast to beat at this year's state meet.
She injured the knee in the final meet of the season in vaulting, but finished out the remaining events - obviously in some pain.
``I think she was more worried about hurting it more than anything else,'' said coach Debi Strausbaugh - whose Knights are the defending Group AAA state champion. ``She has to qualify to move on, so there is some pressure there also.''
But Sawyer is only a sophomore, so this is far from her last chance. But if she chooses not to compete, Kellam's chance for repeating as state champion is narrowed considerably. The team's No. 5 gymnast - Leigh Wallace - was to have surgery Thursday for a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
In team scoring, a team's top four gymnasts in each event are counted. Sawyer consistently scores nines in every event. Without her scores, the pressure will be on Michelle Alexander, Theresa Polizzi and Kim Russell and whomever battles to fill in the team's fourth score. Alexander has the second-highest all-around finish this season.
The defending Beach tournament champion Cox Falcons have been the most consistent team this season and have no injuries to report. Cox has also recorded the highest team score this season at 144.
But Kellam has been in the same gym with the Falcons three times this season and has scored higher all three times.
The Falcons' victory in last year's district meet was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect Kellam season.
``We just don't know what's going to happen right now and we're just hoping for the best,'' Strausbaugh said. ``This is just making the rest of the team work even harder and that's all we can do at this point.''
Individually, the Beach should qualify a host of gymnasts for the region meet. To advance as an all-around, a gymnast must score a total of 35 points. During the regular season, 13 gymnasts hit that mark at one time or another.
Kellam's Sawyer, Alexander and Russell have made it, as have Lana Pinera, Erin Schweitzer and Britt Moore of Cox; Kim Maugeri and Marissa Sutor of First Colonial; Laura Snelling and Kristen Grabb of Kempsville; Cheryl Risk of Tallwood; and Davinia Roberts of Salem.
Without Sawyer, the all-around title at districts is wide open.
To advance to region in an individual event, a gymnast must score a 9 or higher.
As for the team competition, the top two teams advance to region.
Without Sawyer, Cox would have to be the favorite to repeat and the battle for second would be between Cox, First Colonial, Kempsville and Tallwood. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI
Kellam's Brooke Sawyer, touted as the gymnast to beat in the state
meet, may be out for the season with a compression fracture in a
knee.
by CNB