Patrick Henry’s Valasek takes All-Around title By Dave Lawrence For The Mechanicsville Local After a long season and several hours of grueling competition, the gymnasts gathered at Deep Run High School had enough energy to take down and set aside physical evidence of the meet they had just participated in. They had enough energy to rush out in groups to see snow falling over Short Pump. They had enough energy to dance together to music blaring over the gym loudspeakers. Quite a few of them, led by members of the Mills Godwin and Atlee teams, will need a bit more energy for another kind of dance – the VHSL state meet at Salem High School in Virginia Beach this weekend. The Eagles narrowly edged the Raiders to claim the Central Region gymnastics title, 146.4 to 145.725. Host Deep Run finished third with a score of 141.5, and Patrick Henry finished fourth with a score of 135.35. “I feel ecstatic. This is the
Dave Lawrence/For The Local
Hanover’s Hannah Andrzejewski makes a near-perfect landing during the vault in the Central Region meet.
happiest I’ve ever been as a coach,” said Mills Godwin coach Anna McLaughlin. “It is a huge accomplishment for our school and our team to go from third place last year all the way to first.” McLaughlin, who had added reason to feel ecstatic – she was named Central Region coach of the year – said newcomers to her roster made the difference. “We had some key additions,” McLaughlin said. “Two seniors, Megan Love and Alexa Cohen. This was their first and last year. Emily Cohen is a freshman, and Amirah Anderson
is also a freshman. They had had really strong scores and provide us with a lot of depth throughout our lineup. … Of course, our key girls – Emily Maynard, Maddy Greene and Kelly Price – that we’ve had, they also helped a lot.” Alexa Cohen won the uneven bars and tied for second – with Patrick Henry’s Kristen Valasek – behind Deep Run’s Lauren Stewart in the balance beam. Love tied Atlee’s Allie Lewis for the top spot in the vault, and finished second in the beam. Maynard edged Lewis for the top spot in the
floor performance. While the Eagles finished on top, Atlee had three of the top eight all-around gymnasts: Lewis, finished third behind AllAround champion Valasek and Lee-Davis’ Hannah Chenault. Brianna MacKay finished sixth, and Derika Banks finished seventh. “I’m so proud. They’re super strong and mentally, mentally tough,” said Atlee coach Donna Kohler. “They really poured it on.” Rounding out the top eight all-around gymnasts were Maynard in fourth place, Stewart in fifth, and Deep Run’s Megan Craig in eighth place. The top four – Valasek, Chenault, Lewis, and Maynard – advance to the state meet in the all-around competition. Valasek was named gymnast of the year. In addition to Chennault, Lee-Davis will be sending Anna Glascock to the state meet. Glascock qualified in the floor competition by finishing eighth. Lee-Davis coach Cy Witherow thought the Confederates might have done a bit better if not for a couple of events.
Raider boys and girls sweep swim titles By George Templeton Media General News Services Atlee High and Maggie Walker Governor’s School fought a back-and-forth battle for the Central Region boys swimming championship that came down to the final event, the 400-yard freestyle on Saturday at NOVA. Backed by fast final legs from Shane Condon and Jesse Burnley, the Raiders won the event to edge the Green Dragons for the team title by two points. “I knew it would be close when the (lineup) sheet came out,” Atlee coach Karen Seeber
said. “I had a talk with the team and I told them stay strong through the whole meet.” In the girls competition, the Raiders won one individual event but used their depth to win by 55 points. “We’ve got a lot of young, talented swimmers who’ve really come up this year,” Seeber said. “I thought we would be pretty good. We beat 22 teams at the Kecoughtan Invitational and we’re very excited about the state meet.” While the last relay pushed Atlee over the top in the boys competition, the first event of the night — the 200 medley
relay — provided the crucial difference. In a seesaw race where both teams led during the final leg, the Raiders edged the Green Dragons by .05 seconds. “When it’s that close, you really can’t tell who won,” MWGS coach Rob Sultzer said. At the first break, the Green Dragons led by two points. At the second break, it was the Raiders by one. “We wanted our swimmers to concentrate on swimming their best,” Sultzer said. “We didn’t want them to worry about the standings.” After the second break,
Burnley and Austin Glass finished first and second, respectively, in the backstroke and were among four Raiders who finished in the top seven to widen the lead to 12 points. Maggie Walker struck back in the breaststroke with four swimmers in the top six to take a two-point lead. “It comes back to our best swimmers swam well, but some of our other swimmers did better than we thought,” Sultzer said. “We had swimmers we expected to finish seventh, eighth and ninth, finishing fifth and sixth.” see SWIMMING, pg. 39 `
“I thought everybody had a good day. … Hannah Chenault had a great day,” Witherow said. “It’s just our bars weren’t very strong and our beam wasn’t very strong.” The balance beam especially was giving a number of teams trouble. “They all said it wobbled,” Kohler said. “If one girl says it’s wobbly, then they all think it is. That must have been the word on the beam today for all the teams, because there wasn’t that many stuck routines on the beam today.” Valasek is the only Patriot heading to the state tournament, but Patrick Henry coach Austin Beazley was ecstatic about the progress the Patriots have made this year. “Our goal this year was to break 130 points, and we did that on Wednesday at Godwin. We got a 131, and today we got 135.425 and we are so excited,” Beazley said. “We’ve come so far. I’m proud of all the girls.” At that point, she started to
tear up, but regained her composure. “I don’t care what place we got, we just improved a lot,” Beazley said. Hanover is sending Hannah Burruss to the state meet. Burruss finished seventh on the balance beam. “All my girls had good days” said Hanover coach Jessica Moore. “My seniors especially – I wanted them to have a good time today, and they all had great routines.” Mills Godwin and Atlee claimed the Colonial and Capital District titles, respectively. Deep Run finished second in the Colonial, followed by Patrick Henry and Douglas Freeman. Lee-Davis finished second in the Capital, followed by Hanover, Glen Allen, Henrico and Varina. Team scores: Mills Godwin 146.4, Atlee 145.725, Deep Run 141.5, Patrick Henry 135.35, Lee-Davis 133.85, Hanover 133.6, Glen Allen 123.35, Henrico 116.35, Douglas Freeman 111.3, Varina 109.275. For complete scores go to www. mechlocal.com.
ATLEE LITTLE LEAGUE 2008 World Series Participants
2012 Baseball & Softball Registration Saturday, 1/21/12 and 2/18/12, 10 am to 2 pm at Cool Spring Baptist Church On-line registration for baseball, softball and Challenger opens at www.atleelittleleague.com on January 1st. Both new and returning players can be registered on-line. Challenger League Baseball gives mentally and physically challenged boys and girls an opportunity to play baseball within an organized structure. A birth certificate and proof of address are required for any player who has not previously participated in Atlee Little League.
2515238-01
Atlee finishes second behind Godwin
For further information and to register online, visit www.atleelittleleague.com or email cjblaum@comcast.net The Mechanicsville Local
Ferbruary 15, 2012 35