After our weekend to Utah, the next weekend we headed to Denver for the girls' state meet. (Ben actually headed to Mexico and I will that later.)
Lucy was set to compete first at 3:00 and so we were able to just head out the morning of. We got to the venue site a couple hours early and had time to walk around and get some fresh air and eat a little sack lunch. It was also at this time that Emmy realized she had forgotten her warm-ups and leo . . . oh dear. But she ended up borrowing from another gymnast - but ultimately just ended up wearing Lucy's. Wow, that could have been a disaster!
Lucy was up first and competed with her fellow friend and teammate Gracie. They laugh a lot and just have a good time together and so that was fun. Bars was up first and Lucy didn't do horrible. Bars is probably her weakest event and she just struggles hitting the "degrees" which lessens your starting value and of course overall score. But she didn't do too bad and looked just fine. She scored a 7.8. Beam was next - Lucy's solid event. She didn't fall but she unfortunately didn't get her "connection," which starts her off at a 9.5 (which is essentially like having a fall). She scored decently, though, with a 8.525. Floor she did great and completed her tough front pass: front handspring to a front full. It doesn't look big, but it's a huge skill for Xcel gymnastics. She got an 8.975. Last up was vault and it wasn't her best, but she also did great and ended up with a 8.75. She ended up getting 5th on beam (13th all-around since they give every one an all-around. Which is stupid because then the last-place person basically gets showcased as being last . . . not cool. Lucy was not last, but I still hate it. I think there were about 17 in her age group.)
This was Lucy's first year in Diamonds and it was tough. The skills and deductions and requirements are just harder, as it should be. So she really did great for her first year as a diamond! I was definitely proud of her. :)
Link to her video HERE.
Pre-meet.
Post-meet with Gracie. :)
Emmy was next up at 6:30 that same night (which was kind of nice to get it all done in one fell swoop). She, of course, was all nerves. She was competing with the other two senior diamonds - Liv (Olivia) and Rish (Marisha). So that was fun! They, like Lucy, started out on bars. Now Emmy has been working on that very difficult toe-on front-flip dismount and hadn't yet had a meet where she landed it (without either landing on her butt or falling promptly on her butt . . .). She had told me she had landed quite a few at practice, but that she wasn't doing well on her giants. Sigh, always something off for this girl! So, she started on bars . . . AND STUCK IT! YAY! So many happy tears from Emmy, teammates, coaches, mom, etc., etc. The best ever. She got a 9.0 - yesssssss. She had the hardest dismount at the meet and I was so proud of her - but mostly just so darn happy for her!! (Well . . . one other girl did a double-back dismount but she was just so out of the league we hardly counted her ha and another girl did Emmy's same dismount but did not stick it.) Next was beam - which is her weakest event. She fell on a silly jump and didn't get her connection either - so her starting value was a 9.5 and she lost another .5 with the fall . . . So she wasn't too bummed about the 7.6 score ha. Floor went well for her - but it was a bummer because she had some way better front-passes in her practices but such is the sport. She still looked great and scored a 9.075. Last up was vault and Emmy actually has quite a difficult vault, even though it doesn't look it. It is one of very few vaults in the diamond level that starts at a 10.0 starting value. Emmy struggles with landing this, but had two very, very solid and beautiful front handspring full-twists. I heard a coach from a different gym, who was standing near the mat waiting for his gymnasts to go, congratulate Emmy on her vault and said something along the lines of, "That is a very difficult vault!" That made me happy for Emmy to get the unsolicited validation. She ended up with a 9.1. All in all, Emmy took 2nd (!) on vault, 6th on bars and 8th all-around. It was an excellent meet and a great way to go out and end her gymnastics career! (Both girls could have gone on to the multi-state regionals, but neither wanted to . . . )
I think that is a post-bar landing-stuck smile from Emmy. :)
Emmy, Liv, and Rish.
The seniors with the lovely and awesome coaches - Jess and KJ.
Stunners! The seniors got recognition at the state meet and that was pretty cool.
That night we grabbed food at Denny's (it was open and actually delicious) and then slept at Jim and Diana's. We went the next morning and visited with them at their assisted care facility and that was nice, even though sweet Diana was feeling miserable and suffering with a UTI. After that and a ridiculous amount of time trying to get frozen yogurt (drove to one place out of the way because they said they were open early . . . which they weren't . . . but by that time the closer place was open . . . blahblah), we made our way back home.
All in all, a stressful yet wonderful State. Emmy's final competition. Sniff, sniff, sniff.
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