Published: March 10, 2007 01:10 am      

McCracken qualifies for state

Panthers take fourth at Harrison Gymnastics Regional

WEST LAFAYETTE — Western took fourth place as a team at the IHSAA Harrison Gymnastics Regional Friday and saw one gymnast advance. Panther gymnast Nikki McCracken took fifth in the all-around to qualify for next Saturday’s state meet in Indianapolis.

The Panthers scored 101.7 to finish fourth. Top-ranked Lawrence Central was first with a score of 109.675, followed by Carmel (108.925) and Logansport (105.275). The top two teams advanced to the state meet.

McCracken qualified for state on the vault, taking fourth with a score of 9.2, but then didn’t need her vault ticket when she scored 35.65 in the all-around competition, earning a ticket to state in all events. She was ninth on the uneven bars (8.575), 10th on the balance beam (8.825) and eighth on the floor exercise (9.05). No other local gymnast advanced to state.

“We knew that her vault score was going to be potentially up there in the top six,” Western coach Joni McCracken said. “I had no clue she was going to [qualify] in the all-around, so that was a surprise. She’s pretty excited about going to the [state meet] all-around so she can throw some different skills she hasn’t thrown.

“It was a real goal for her to be able to make it to state.”

It will be the first trip to the state meet for the sophomore.

Freshman Casey Herr took 10th in the all-around for the Panthers with a score of 34.175. She was eighth on vault (9.05), 16th on bars (7.825), 18th on beam (8.375) and ninth on floor (8.925). Sophomore Amanda Hudson was 16th all-around with a score of 31.325. She finished 18th on bars (7.75), 20th on beam (7.9) and 25th on floor (7.875). In addition for Western, sophomore Ashley Rice took 20th on vault with a score of 8.35.

The Panthers placed where they expected, but were pleasantly surprised to post a score of 101.7.

“When we went into the meet, we expected that fourth is where we should be, so we performed as expected. The girls team score — I didn’t think the individual scores were as high as the team score ended up being,” Joni McCracken said. “I was really pleased with that 101.7. We had some nerves, as expected, but that evened out through the meet and they gained tons of experience.

“They were just consistent with what they normally do.”

Northwestern’s Ashley Miller also competed on the vault at the regional. She took 12th place with a score of 8.9.

“We said she had to stick her landing and she stuck her landing so that was good,” NW coach Kelly Wright said of the sophomore. “We’re really proud of her and she improved this year over last year. We’re looking forward to being even better next year.”