The outcome could easily have been different than the 128.45-128.3 loss to Kenowa Hills, but it wasn’t and that is what made the defeat so difficult to take.

“I knew we had a shot. We just made too many mistakes…. 0.15, that is one bent leg, one step on a landing, one jump not high enough, I could go on,” said a disappointed Lowell gymnastics coach, Michelle DeHaan.

The Red Arrows top two exercises were on the vault and floor.

Displaying the focus and mental courage to move past an injury incurred by Morgan Taylor, Lowell still managed to piece together a strong overall performance on the vault.

Lauren DeHaan led the way with an 8.65 followed by Serena Wilterdink’s 8.45 and Lauren Browning  and Meghan Plutschouw tallied 8.4’s.

Taylor went down with a knee injury on her second vault attempt of the evening.

“The team did do a great job of being able to stay focused for the rest of the meet. I was a little worried they would let Morgan’s injury rattle them,” DeHaan said.

After scoring her first 9.0 on the balance beam a few night earlier, DeHaan broke the 9.0 barrier in her floor exercise.

DeHaan scored a 9.1 to lead Lowell. Kaezi Bladey followed with an 8.6.  Wilterdink scored an 8.45 and Bethany Kaczanowski finishing with an 8.35.

DeHaan also led the Red Arrows on the balance beam with a mark of 8.2. Jorie Bennett and Danielle Krajewski finished with scores of 7.6 and 7.55 respectively. Kaczanowski provided the Red Arrows with their fourth score of 7.4.

On the uneven bars it was Bladey (7.8), Wilterdink (7.3), Plutschouw (7.1) and DeHaan (6.95).

“With six girls from Lowell competing on each event, 24 routines total, the outcome could have easily been different. We just didn’t capitalize on the situation,” DeHaan concluded.

Filed under: gymnastics