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January 30, 2013
sports
SAMMAMISH REVIEW
Gymnasts come together for one final league meet By Lillian O’Rorke
Eastlake and Skyline faced off against Garfield and Newport in their second to last league meet Jan 24. With the flu helping to diminish both teams’ numbers, Skyline finished the evening in second place with 130.77 points and Eastlake took fourth with 54.55. The Eastlake Wolves were the hardest hit by flu season and only brought six of their 18 girls to the competition. “We, kind of, on the bus were like, ‘oh man, this is going to be interesting.’ So, we had the goal to just come in and do the best we could,” said Eastlake coach Meghan Delaney. The top five individual scores in each event are added to make up the total team score. But Eastlake didn’t have five girls in any event, which meant the Wolves had several zeros working against them. “But we’re OK with that. The fact that these girls came out and represented Eastlake, to me, I think it’s incredible. That even with sickness, even with finals that they said ‘you know what, I am going to come support my team and do what I do.’” The most competitors Eastlake had in an event was four in floor, where Marie Bentler scored a 5.15; Mariah Hebenthal got a 4.9 and Vanessa Hernandez earned a 4.4. The Wolves only senior that night, Lisa Sheehan, scored the highest with a 6.05. Aside from dabbling in gymnastics when she was five, Sheehan is new to the sport. “I just wanted to pick it up my senior year and have fun,” she said. “I love it. It’s my favorite sport actually. I wish I had started it earlier…You can always get better. You can always progress.” Sheehan’s floor song “Requiem for a Dream” is a nod to her favorite movie “The Lord of the Rings.” When it finished playing Jan. 24, Sheehan said she knew she had done well, but didn’t know she had made a twopoint improvement over her previous performance. “It was amazing. I teared up, and I usually don’t cry so. It just meant a lot to me that I put in all the hard work and it paid off,” she said. “The last time that I did my floor routine I didn’t
Photo by Greg Farrar
Max Levy stretches his body straight as he enters the water Jan. 9 during diving practice with his teammates at Julius Boehm Pool.
Photos by Lillian O’Rorke
Above, Eastlake senior Lisa Sheehan leaps up from the beam during the gymnastics meet Jan. 24 at Garfield High School. Below, teammate Vanessa Hernandez strikes a pose during her floor routine. have the score that I wanted to, so I added a front flip and I also cleaned up my routine.” On beam Sheehan earned a 5.95. Her teammates Natalie Ross scored 4.4 and Hernandez got a 4.2. Bentler was Eastlake’s highest scoring in the vault, with a 6.2. Sheehan was close behind with a 5.9. On bars, Bentler earned a 3.9
while Anna Lovin got a 3.5. Even with a few of its top performers missing Jan. 24, the Skyline Spartans had 10 girls in each event. “They did great. I thought they did fantastic tonight,”
said Skyline coach Michelle McCombs. “We were trying to reach 145, but because we were down a couple of our key players, we knew that it wasn’t going to happen. But we still got close to 130, which is good.” After it was all said and done, Skyline had 12 top 10 scores. In vault Rikki Uhrich took third place with a score of 8.1; Kelly Lin finished in sixth at 7.7; right behind her was Alyssa Holt with 7.5 and Kamryn Brandt, with a score of 7.4, tied with Newport for ninth place. On bars, Lin took seventh place after earning a 6.15 and finished in sixth again, this time in beam, with a score of 7.7. Also in beam, Ayse Raymond, with a 7.35, took ninth place. In the floor compeSee GYMNAST, Page 9
Max Levy makes a splash in diving scene By Lillian O’Rorke
had finished his 11th dive, the judges had awarded him 516.2 The end of the diving board at points. Bohem pool flutters under Max “I just focused on getting the Levy, who bounces more intently motion correct and making it so every time until finally he lifts that my dives were as fluid as off, the line from his pointed toes possible, and that when I went to his up-stretched hands formin the water, there wasn’t a lot of ing an arrow. In the air he flips splash,” said Levy. his body backward, Despite his high spins and he enters marks, the 17-yearthe water facing the old thought he could same direction that he have done better. After started. reviewing a recording He has several of his dives, he said he more dives to run thought some were off through before prac— one was a bit short tice is over. and his splash was too Levy has spent the big on a couple others. last several weeks Levy explained that Max Levy preparing for the Boys the better the dive, State Swimming and Diving the smaller the splash. Other Championships. While the big elements, he said, include your day is not until Feb. 15, the approach to the end of the board, Skyline senior has had his ticket the first jump, then the second. to high school’s culminating div“All those have to be in a ing competition since Jan. 5. cohesive manner to be able to do Heading to state qualifier that the dive correctly and be close day at Juanita High School, Levy enough to the board without needed a score of 300 to secure a See LEVY, Page 9 spot at State. But by the time he