Gymnastics: Slicers pair wins title, Portage takes team crown

Updated: December 17, 2011 10:23PM

LAPORTE — The bigger competitions are still a few weeks away, but six schools got a chance to take an early glance at their squads during Saturday’s LaPorte pairs meet.

And at the end of the day, it was a pair of Slicers standing atop the podium.

Senior Abby Light and sophomore Melanie Smith combined for an overall score of 34.35 to win the individual portion of the meet.

“It feels real good to start off the season with this,” said Light, who posted two of the day’s highest scores. Her 9.4 performance on the beam was first overall, while her 9.15 floor exercise was the second highest score of the day.

LaPorte assistant coach Emily Crabtree, who filled in for head coach Suzann Myers, said she was proud of the performance from her top pair.

“They both come in here and work hard,” said Crabtree. “They weren’t expected to get first, and it kind of surprised them. But hopefully this kicks them into gear by showing them that they can perform well.”

Portage posted the highest team score at the meet, with a trio of their pairings finishing in the top five.

“That’s what we wanted to do; place as many pairs as we could, instead of necessarily being the top pair,” said Portage coach Karen Barcelli “It’s a good start, and now we know what we need to work on.”

For the Indians, Lyndsey Cunningham and Daniell Solis finished second overall with a combined score of 33.6. Following them in fourth place was the duo of Ali Johnson and Mackenzie Barcelli (33.45), while Madeline Solis and Madison Kurtz combined for a fifth-place finish (32.6).

Crown Point’s Natalie Groff and Katelyn Cservenyak finished with a score of 33.5, good enough for third place at the meet.

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