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So talented is the field for Saturday's gymnastics regional at Valparaiso High School that a fourth-place finish out of six teams may be like a championship for Warsaw coach Amanda Campbell and Wawasee coach Nika Prather.
The Tigers and Warriors will compete in what both coaches called "the toughest regional in the state." The action will get underway at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The complete six-team field is made up of Chesteron, Merrillville, Hobart, Plymouth, Warsaw and Wawasee.
The top three teams as well as the top six individuals in each event advanced from each sectional site this past Saturday, while the top two teams and top six individuals in each event will advance from tomorrow's regional to the state finals.
"There's gonna be some pretty tough teams up there," Campbell said. "Hobart is pretty good, but they're a couple points behind."
Chesterton, which was ranked fourth in the final poll, won the Portage Sectional with a team score of 110.475. Trojan Leslie West took first in two events and in the all-around competition.
Merrillville, the top-ranked team in the final poll, came in second with a 110.325, while Hobart was third with 108.275.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Tigers, who finished the regular season with an 11-3 record, won the team title at the Wawasee Sectional, this time with a score of 100.425. Plymouth was second with 98.075, while the host Warriors, who finished the regular season 7-5 and have advanced to the regional every year since 1972, moved on with a third-place score of 96.950.
"Our main goal is to defeat the teams from our sectional, come in at least fourth as a team," Campbell said. "With the skill Chesterton and Merrillville have, they'll probably be the two teams that move on."
"It usually is," Prather said of Wawasee's goal to top the advancing teams from the Wawasee Sectional. "We want to go up there and stay with them or surpass them. We want to try and eliminate the mistakes we made at the sectional."
Prather listed freshman Lindsay Olson as the Warrior with the best chance to advance to state. The seventh-year Warrior head coach expects her to fare well in on the beam and in the all-around competition.
"She's been pretty much consistent and hit every event," Prather said of Olson. "If you look at her all-around scores, she was higher than the seventh-place finisher at the Portage Sectional. She very well could make it, she's been very consistent all year."
The last Wawasee gymnast to advance to state was Prather's daughter, Tierny, who competed at state as a sophomore on beam in 1996.
For Warsaw, Campbell listed senior Jillian Letsch, who competed at state as a sophomore, as having the best chance to represent the Tigers in the state finals.
"The girls can only go up there and do the best they can," Campbell said. "If Jillian does like she's been doing on the floor, she's got a good shot at getting to state. Her best routines are on floor and beam."
Letsch was the sectional champion in the floor competition with a score of 9.475. Chesterton's West won the floor exercises at the Portage Sectional with a score of 9.675.
VALPARAISO REGIONAL
1 p.m. Saturday
Competing teams -ÊWarsaw, Wawasee, No. 4 Chesteron, Hobart, No. 1 Merrillville, Plymouth
