THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040430
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 33 lines
The Cox gymnastics team won its second straight Beach District title Monday, but by the slimmest of margins - taking a 144.5-144.25 decision over Kellam.
But that's the way its been between the Falcons and the Knights for the last four years.
And a Kellam victory would have forced a faceoff tonight against Salem - a 144.4-135.35 winner over Kempsville on the same floor - to determine the district championship.
``No, we didn't want to have to face Salem and go back-to-back nights,'' said Falcons coach Melody Hartranft, whose team finished 9-0 in district competition. ``Not with the district meet coming up Saturday.''
The difference between Cox and Kellam was the Falcons' overall vaulting performances and a fall on the uneven bars dismount by Kellam's Brooke Sawyer. Cox had vaulting scores of 9.05, 9.1, 9.15, 9.3 and 9.35 - throwing out the lowest score - for a total of 36.9. Kellam had only 35.8 on vault. Despite Sawyer's fall on her dismount, the Knights had 1.2 more points on bars. But Cox won the floor portion by half a point.
Back for only her second all-around competition since suffering a sprained ankle in December, Sawyer tied for top honors in the all-around competition with teammate Michelle Alexander. Sawyer - the defending Group AAA state all-around champion - and Alexander each had 37.2 points. Cox's Amber Fizer was third with 36.5.
Salem's Divinia Roberts won the all-around competition between Salem and Kempsville with a total of 36.45.