Hey Ladies fans! This is sophomore Kendall Sanders with this week's gym talk!
The Ladies had an eventful double meet weekend with many career highs and two team scores above 191! The Friday meet was dedicated to Sylvia who passed away when a drunk driver hit her on the side of the road. She was a true Lady with heart and determination. The Ladies got a chance to meet her family as we hosted them for lunch before the meet. It was heart-warming to meet them as we have heard so many stories about Sylvia.
We started the weekend off on vault with a 48.100 and three twisting vaults! This is the highest team vault score since 2017. Leilani Johnson scored her career high with a 9.600. Kendall Huff scored a career high on vault with a 9.625, followed by Cami Bea Austin match her career high with a 9.800. I was able to contribute with my first time competing a twisting vault as well on Friday!
Next, we moved to bars where Si-Si Ponder was able to do a big girl dismount for the first time since knee surgery! She was also our beast award winner for Friday night, this is the award we give out at every home meet to honor Sylvia! Taylor Ann also had her freshman debut in the bar lineup, after an injury over Christmas break sidelined her for a few weeks. It was good to have some of those Ladies back in the line-up!
The beam team was on fire and Dorothy Mims had an amazing routine with one judge giving it a 9.9! If you did not think the meet could get any better, well it did! The floor roars were killing it with great energy! Jenny Jackson scored her career high with 9.675 followed by Leilani Johnson with 9.700 and competing two doubles for the first time this year. The Ladies went 6 for 6 on floor Friday! I had my career high all around with a 38.525 and the team ended with a 191.650 all for BIG SYL! This is the fifth highest team score Centenary has had since 2013! The energy was high and the Ladies were killing it!
We competed again on Sunday against Division III foe Winona State, and we came away with the win! Leilani Johnson added her twisting vault to the lineup and had another career high. This is the first time the Ladies competed 4 twisting vaults - maybe EVER! Centenary took first for Cami Bea, second for Leilani and third for Kendall Huff.
The bar stars had some improvements from Friday night, and took first for Xi-Pie, second for Si-Si and third for Jenny! The beam team was back on fire; Xian Baumgartner had a 9.750 (career high) for second place and Cami Bea Austin hit a nice routine for third.
The floor roars did it again with Cami Bea at a 9.825 for first place! Leilani Johnson took second (9.75 career high) and Kendall Knaps (9.7 career high) took third. Your Centenary Ladies were killing it! We came away with another score over 191. Peng Peng Lee (an alumni from UCLA) also gave the Ladies a shout out on the WCGA social media platforms as the number three pick of the week for climbing to number 1 in the DIII rankings after two great meets!
Your favorite gymnasts are gearing up for a trip to Missouri for another double meet weekend! Wish us luck as we continue to flip higher and higher!
Much love, Kendall Sanders (aka Baby)
