Gymnasts compete in final tune-up before Regions

Emily Rand won the floor exercise and placed third in the all-around standings to lead Chugiak to a second-place finish at a four-team gymnastics meet on Friday, Oct. 18 at Dimond High. Rand wowed the judges with her floor routine, which was the only individual performance of the day to score a 9.000 or higher.

South’s Ellie Decker won the uneven bars and balance beam to claim the all-around title, with the first-place Wolverines’ Brieley Alch placing second in the all-around standings after winning the vault.

Makenna Casey finished fourth in the all-around standings and Kristen Snowden was fifth for the Mustangs.

Eagle River placed third in the team standings. The Wolves were led by Fina Ochse, who finished ninth in the all-around standings, with AJ Pennington finishing 11th, Amaya Gross 12th and Hailey Parmenter 13th.

The meet was scheduled to be a home meet for Chugiak but was moved to Dimond due to Chugiak’s auxiliary gym being used by Gruening Middle School, which is currently sharing facilities at CHS while its school undergoes earthquake damage repairs.

The meet was the final regular-season event before Regions, which will be held Saturday, Oct. 26 at Dimond High.

Both local teams have been faring well despite low numbers and facilities challenges, said Chugiak coach Wendy Wiltfong and first-year Eagle River coach Elle Adkins. The Mustangs had just eight competitors at Dimond, which Wiltfong said made the team’s performance Friday especially impressive.

“Not too shabby for our very small team,” she wrote in an email to the Star.

Adkins said her squad has been practicing at Mt. Spurr Elementary School on base and hasn’t been able to host its own meets. Despite the challenge, she said the program has doubled in size from last year.

“We have a young and enthusiastic group,” wrote Adkins, who said her team includes a German foreign exchange student in Ochse and one athlete — Hailey Parmenter — who attends Bartlett but is practicing and competing with the Wolves this season due to the Golden Bears not having a team.

“She is fun and fits right in,” Adkins said.

The Region IV meet begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at Dimond High.

Quad Meet

Friday, Oct. 18

Dimond High School

Team scores — 1) South, 207.800; 2) Chugiak, 170.00; 3) Eagle River, 162.350; 4) Service, 139.600

All around — 1) Ellie Decker, South, 32.950; 2) Brieley Alch, South, 32.150; 3) Emily Rand, Chugiak, 29.550; 4) Makenna Casey, Chugiak, 29.000; 5) Kristen Snowden, Chugiak, 28.750.

Bars — 1) Ellie Decker, South, 7.700; 2) Brieley Alch, South, 7.150; 3) Idalis Williams, South, 6.950; 4) Paige Tatlias , South, 5.950; 5) Makenna Casey, Chugiak, 5.850

Vault — 1) Brieley Alch, South, 8.450; 2) Ellie Decker, South, 8.250; 3) Sonja Selhay, South, 8.150; 4) Addy Jones, Service, 8.100; 5) Emily Rand, Chugiak, 9.050

Beam — 1) Ellie Decker, South, 8.250; 2) Idalis Williams, South, 8.200; 3) (tie) Brieley Alch, South and Kristen Snowden, Chugiak; 8.000; 5) Emily Rand, Chugiak, 7.700

Floor — 1) Emily Rand, Chugiak, 9.000; 2) Ellie Decker, South, 8.750; 3) Paige Tatlias, South, 8.600; 4) Brieley Alch, South, 8.550; 5) Addy Jones, Service, 8.300