Team can’t advance past sectionals for first time in six years
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
Decorated Burlington gymnast Molly Benavides had seemingly done it all on the high school level, with individual state titles and trips to team state.
But on Saturday, at the WIAA Division 1 Individual State meet, she out-shined all of her previous trips to Wisconsin Rapids combined.
Benavides put together the finest performance of her career, capturing the Division 1 state all-around title with the highest score ever recorded in state history, a 38.300. It was her sixth state title overall in her illustrious high school career.
Remarkably, Benavides didn’t win a single event, as second place on vault (9.533) was her highest finish.
Not far behind was fellow senior Bailey Fitzpatrick, who missed out on her third career state all-around title by a mere .450. Her 37.850 was second to Benavides.
Fitzpatrick, though, captured her fifth and sixth career state championships on vault (9.767) and beam (9.367).
Fitzpatrick will continue her gymnastics career at UW-Whitewater next year. Benavides is still undecided.
– Pick up Wednesday’s Burlington Standard Press for a full story.
Demons narrowly miss team state
If the WIAA state gymnastics tournament picked it teams based on scoring, which it should possibly consider one day, the Burlington/Badger/Wilmot squad would be competing in Wisconsin Rapids Friday night.
Unfortunately for the Demons, a placement in the state’s toughest sectional yielded an uncommon, yet possibly expected outcome Feb. 25 at Mukwonago High School.
Burlington tallied a season-high score of 144.975, but it wasn’t enough as defending state champion Franklin took first (147.325) and Mukwonago (145.825) earned the two trips to state from the sectional.
The Demons, who won state runner-up the past four seasons, fell victim to a loaded sectional, something Mukwonago has had to endure in recent seasons.
Mukwonago will make its first team state appearance since 1997.
Franklin will attempt to win its fifth consecutive championship. Team state is Friday night.
It’s the first time Burlington hasn’t advanced to Wisconsin Rapids for team state since 2009.
“It’s hard because this season we’ve really worked hard to get to where we are now, but honestly for me, I was more upset about not getting to spend that extra week with my team,” said Bailey Fitzpatrick, who will advance to Saturday’s individual state meet.
Fitzpatrick, a Burlington senior, will gun for her third all-around state title at Saturday’s individual state meet. She qualified in the all-around and all four events, and senior Molly Benavides will join her Saturday in every event except beam.
Fitzpatrick totaled a whopping 38.45 all-around, only .1 behind Benavides’ school record, which was posted recently at conference.
Benavides was right behind Fitzpatrick with a 37.85.
“We gave it our all out there, and it was a great meet to end with the team,” Benavides said. “I couldn’t be more proud of my girls. I love them all so much and tonight was very difficult to swallow considering it was our last time together. These girls are my sisters.”
With the loss of Jenna Fitzpatrick, one-third of the “Big 3” to graduation this year, not many expected the Demons to return to state.
Though the squad had a depth issue for the first time this decade, Burlington slowly became better every week, culminating with a state-worthy performance at sectionals.
Unfortunately for Burlington, a team like Brookfield, which scored a 141.15 to take second place in the Arrowhead Sectional, will compete at team state Saturday while the Demons must watch from home.
Couple with that the fact that the best score out of the remaining D1 sectionals is Stevens Point’s 138.85, and the team with the fourth-best score in the entire state is left out of this year’s dance.
“It’s disappointing not to be going,” said BBW coach Diane Biedrzycki after last Thursday’s sectional. “But we told them not to be disappointed with how they did tonight. They want to be at state. That was the expectation they placed on themselves.”
“They all went after it tonight. We had a couple errors, but they should be super proud. This is a team that’s not deep and doesn’t have much varsity experience. Someone told me our team overachieved, and it’s nice to hear that. They did.”
Moments after the announcer read off Burlington’s score and the fact it would be in third place, Biedrzycki gathered her assistant coaches and the girls and huddled up on the floor mat.
After plenty of tears were exchanged, the girls slowly paced over to their backpacks, arms around each other and emotions running out of their pained faces.
This one hurt, especially considering the team overcame adversity all season to get to this high point.
Lineups were juggled, Benavides didn’t go full bore with her routine until February and Biedrzycki never really know where the third and fourth scores were coming from on a weekly basis.
The Demons were forced to count three falls on beam and finished with a score of 35.725, while Mukwonago and Franklin each finished at least a half-point better, which isn’t a small margin in gymnastics.
Burlington missed state by .8 points, and each fall cost valuable points.
“Each fall is five-tenths of a point, and we counted three of those,” Biedrzycki said. “It happens. We haven’t all hit on beam all year, maybe just one meet, but it’s definitely the hardest event.”
Hailey Siegler was BBW’s next-best all-around. Her 33.8 was 12th overall. Mia Trent added an 8.575 on beam.
On bars, Trent notched an 8.85, behind Benavides’ 9.25.
Sophia Ellsworth had an 8.6 on floor, and Siegler added an 8.925 on vault.
Dynamic duo continues
Fitzpatrick and Benavides will go down in school history as the most prolific, dynamic athletic duo not only in gymnastics, but maybe all sports.
They have a possibility for nine individual medals Saturday, which would be a school record. And both girls are 1-2 in the school’s best all-around scores.
With names like Shanna Popp, Jenna Fitzpatrick and others who have performed for BBW, it’s pretty elite company.
Fitzpatrick was also the champion in the bars in 2012 and 2013, but fell to fourth in the event last season. She is entered in the event again this year.
Benavides is the returning champion on the balance beam. She is entered in the event with sights on her third crown, having also won the title in 2012.
Benavides is also a two-time champion on the vault, winning back-to-back titles in 2013 and last year. She has also qualified in the floor exercise, where she is looking to regain the form that won her the title in 2013. The defending floor champion is junior Sam Balcerak of Franklin.
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