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Chugiak High School's Drita Hajdari concentrates on the balance beam during the Mustangs' season-opening meet with Service and Eagle River Friday.
PHOTO BY DAN SHEPARD
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Chugiak High School and Eagle River High School came out first and second in a three-way gymnastics meet with Service Friday.
The victorious Mustangs tallied 82.70 points, easily defeating the combined scores of the second-place Wolves and third-place Cougars.
Junior Jenny McLaughlin, winner of all four disciplines- floor exercise, the vault, beam and bars - paced the Mustangs en route to the lopsided win.
Chugiak had six athletes competing with four each from Service and Eagle River.
The Mustangs placed best in the beam and floor, garnering the top three slots for each with McLaughlin followed by Drita Hajdari and Stacey McElroy in the former, and Catie Stephens and Hajdari in the floor.
"Everyone did awesome," said the second-year Chugiak coach. "Everyone performed their new skills at a higher level of difficulty than last year."
Eagle River coach Ron Warlick was equally enthusiastic.
"This was a good base to start out building from. It was good for our girls to see what the other girls are doing," he said.
The Wolves were led by sisters Brandi and Tiffany Barnard, who placed second and fourth respectively in all-around scoring. The pair competed for Wiltfong and Chugiak High last year.
"Hopefully we'll keep getting better and better all season," Warlick said.
Wiltfong said the meet could bring a windfall for the Mustangs, with three new girls committing to the team that day.
"We recruited three girls tonight. They said they didn't know that Chugiak High even had a gymnastics program," she said.
The Mustangs and Bartlett Bears travel to Dimond for their second meet today, while Eagle River and West compete at East Friday. Matches begin at 4:30 p.m.
High School Gymnastics
Eagle River, Service at Chugiak
Friday, September 9
Team scores - 1) Chugiak 82.7, 2) Eagle River 46.45, 3) Service 21.35.
Bars - 1) Jenny McLaughlin, Ch, 6.7; 2) Drita Hajdari, Ch, 4.85; 3) Brandi Barnard, ER, 4.75; 4) Service #702, 4.1; 5) Leah Lucas, Ch, 4.0; 6) Tiffany Barnard, ER, 3.9; 7) Stacey McElroy, Ch, 3.6.
Beam - 1) McLaughlin, Ch, 7.05; 2) Hajdari, Ch, 7.0; 3) McElroy, Ch, 6.25; 4) T. Barnard, ER, 5.8; 5) B. Barnard, ER, 5.55; 6) Service #702, 4.8; 7) Jessica Gonzalez, ER, 4.0, 8) Heather Lincoln, ER, 3.25.
Vault - 1) McLaughlin, Ch, 7.55; 2) Service #702, 6.85; 3) B. Barnard, ER, 5.65; 4) Service #701, 5.6; 5) McElroy, Ch, 4.05; 6) T. Barnard, ER, 3.45.
Floor - 1) McLaughlin, Ch, 7.45; 2) Catie Stephens, Ch, 5.4; 3) Hajdari, Ch, 5.35; 4) B. Barnard, ER, 5.25; 5) McElroy, Ch, 5.2; 6) Lucas, Ch, 5.0; 7) T. Barnard, ER, 4.9; 8) Emily Nelson, Ch, 3.25.
All-Around - 1) McLaughlin, Ch, 28.75; 2) B. Barnard, ER, 21.15; 3) McElroy, Ch, 19.10; 4) T. Barnard, ER, 18.05.
