THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502250368
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
It seems that whenever the Cox gymnastics team puts forth its best effort in the state tournament, somebody comes along with a better one.
For the fifth time since the Group AAA event began in 1974, the Falcons finished second.
But during the team portion Friday at Ocean Lakes, it wasn't for a lack of effort. Beach District and Eastern Region champion Cox registered its best score of the season with a combined 144.2.
Unfortunately, Northern Region champion Lake Braddock had a similar evening.
The Bruins captured their fifth state title and set a new meet record of 146.2 - topping the old mark of 145 set last year by Kellam.
Central Region champ Atlee was third at 142.35.
The individual portion of the meet will begin at 1:30 p.m. today at Ocean Lakes.
``I went up to (Cox field hockey coach Nancy Fowlkes - winner of six straight and nine overall state titles) and told her I knew how all the other field hockey teams in the state must feel,'' Falcons coach Melody Hartranft said. ``We had a great meet tonight, but when you come up against a team like Lake Braddock was tonight, sometimes things are just impossible.''
The Bruins were as consistent as they were good - with the 16 scores that counted toward the team total averaging 9.13. Lake Braddock's lowest score that counted towards the total was an 8.55 by Jill Tobias on balance beam. But her teammates countered with four scores above 9.4. Northern all-around champion Brandee Gound had scores of 9.6 twice.
``We were really happy with the way we competed tonight,'' said Gound, who will be one of the gymnasts to beat in today's individual all-around competition. ``We've been more into the team thing this year and everybody's really been putting a lot into it.''
After the first rotation, Lake Braddock held a 1.5-point lead over Cox, and the Bruins increased the margin to 2.65 after two events. Cox - competing on beam in the third rotation - managed to close the gap to two points with one of its best beam sets in several weeks.
Heading into the final rotation - Lake Braddock on uneven bars and Cox on floor - it was clear that the Falcons could not win. Despite registering five scores of 9.0 or higher, Cox needed a combined 38.5 just to tie the Bruins - who had already finished competing by the time Cox came up on floor.
``Bars is our best event, so finishing on it was very nice,'' Lake Braddock coach Michael Cooper said. ``It's the event we're most comfortable with.''
Cox had little trouble taking second at that point, needing only a 34.95 to edge Atlee. The Falcons finished the floor with a 36.75.
``I feel like we did the best we could tonight,'' Falcons senior all-around Erin Schweitzer said. ``This was the very best we've done all year, but (Lake Braddock) was very good.
``They had their best night the same night we did. But it's all right, we're all very happy with how we did.'' by CNB