Live blog from WIAA state gymnastics meet Friday night!

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Staff Writer

It was another big day for the Burlington Combined gymnastics team.

With individual medals on the line Friday night in the WIAA Division 1 state gymnastics meet, BBW did not disappoint, winning or tying for the top spot in all three of the individual events they had qualifiers and taking two of the top three all-around positions as well.

Sophomore Bailey Fitzpatrick defended her uneven bars and all-around titles, scoring 9.60 on the uneven bars and a total of 38.216 in the all-around. Fitzpatrick also finished third on the vault with a 9.633 and third on floor with a 9.433. Her beam score of 9.55 would have medaled on that event as well, but she didn’t qualify in that event after a fall at sectionals.

Also having a huge day was fellow sophomore Molly Benavides, who won both the vault (9.667) and tied with Franklin Combined’s Lauren Zurowski for the floor title (9.60). Benavides posted a score of 9.567 on the beam, but like her teammates, did not qualify out of the sectional on that event. Benavides would’ve likely contended for the all-around title, but slipped off the uneven bars twice and scored just a 7.9. She wound up eighth in the all-around with a score of 36.734.

BBW’s final individual competitor was sectional all-around champion Jenna Fitzpatrick, who finished third in the all-around Friday with a score of 37.75. Fitzpatrick finished tied for fourth on the vault with a 9.55, third on bars with a 9.50 and seventh on floor with a 9.283. She also scored a 9.417 on the beam.

In Division 2 competition, Sam Dziak finished fourth on the balance beam with a 9.0. She was the only medalist for the Wolverines, who also had Lauren Dziak and Sam Jahnke competing in individual competition. Sam Dziak ended up 11th in the all-around with a score of 34.35.

Friday’s live blog is below:

Hi everyone. This is Jennifer Eisenbart from the WIAA state gymnastics meet. I will be attempting to give updates in between rotations, and also on Twitter.

For people looking to follow the tweets follow JJEisenbart. Otherwise, refresh here often.

5:52 p.m. – Both Samantha and Lauren Dziak of Waterford hit their uneven bars routines in the first rotation. Samantha was competing on this event, while Lauren competed the event just for her all-around total. Neither has the difficulty to contend for a state medal, but both hit nice, solid sets.

5:57 p.m. – Will try to get scores to go with routine descriptions, but it’s very hard to see given some of the angles.

6:50 p.m. – Beautiful vault rotation for the Burlington Combined gymnasts. Molly Benavides, Bailey Fitzpatrick and Jenna Fitzpatrick each stuck at least one of their vaults, with Benavides leading the way with a 9.667. All three vaults should be on the medal stand.

6:58 p.m. – Bailey Fitzpatrick scored a 9.663, Jenna Fitzpatrick a 9.55. All three of those scores should hold up for medals, it will just be a question what color.

7:48 p.m. – So, it’s a bunch of wonderful bars sets in the third rotation. Bailey Fitzpatrick posts a rotation-high 9.6, followed by Sammie Olsen of Franklin Combined (9.587) and then Jenna Fitzpatrick (9.5). All three hit nice, clean sets, but Molly Benavides of Burlington overshot a handstand and fell, then missed her toe shoot to the high bar. 7.9 for Benavides, which will take her out of the all-around hunt. A shame, since the D1 field is deep enough to have that score maybe bump her out of the medals all together.

8:55 p.m. – Bailey and Jenna Fitzpatrick, as well as Molly Benavides, all hit their beam routines, for scores of 9.55, 9.417 and 9.567, respectively. All three scores would normally be enough to medal, no doubt, but none of the three qualified for state on the event.