By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports Editor
There’s no doubt that the Burlington Combined gymnastics team has some of the top talent in the state this year.
It’s the depth that is a major issue right now.
With another gymnast being lost for the season due to injury over the holiday break, and one out with the flu Saturday, the squad just didn’t have the numbers it needed at the Falcon Invite.
The squad finished second with a team score of 146.025 – just four tenths back of winner Franklin/Muskego/Whitnall/Oak Creek in spite of counting a fall on three of the four events.
“I was happy with the day,” said coach Diane Biedrzycki. “It didn’t really bother me … given our depth at the moment.”
Burlington competed just the minimum four athletes on two events – vault and uneven bars – after Jacquie Fiorillo was sidelined with the flu and Robynanne Scheuerman was lost for the season with an ankle injury.
As a result, the squad counted a fall on vault (and earlier on beam and floor), and Frankego had just enough of a lead going into the final event that Burlington couldn’t make up the difference.
“I was happy with how the girls did,” Biedrzycki said. “Winning that big of a meet at this time in the year isn’t the be-all and end-all. We’re making sure we’re taking steps in the right direction.”
In spite of the mistakes, though, Burlington Combined still had three of the top five all-arounders at the meet, and won every event.
Leading the way was sophomore Bailey Fitzpatrick, who didn’t win an individual event but managed a 37.625 to take the all-arounder. Fitzpatrick took a scary tumble in vault warmups and then sat down her vault in competition, but finished second on bars (9.70), third on beam (9.30) and second on floor (9.575).
Fellow sophomore Molly Benavides, meanwhile, won three of the four events: the vault (9.625), the beam (9.5) and floor (9.575). A mistake on bars (8.825) dropped her to third in the all-around (37.500).
The third all-arounder was junior Jenna Fitzpatrick, who tied the meet record in winning the uneven bars with a 9.80. While she fell on the floor exercise, Fitzpatrick still scored an 8.95, then added a tie for third on vault (9.325) and a solid 8.90 on beam to take fifth in the all-around (36.975).
“Everyone had something they could’ve improved on,” Biedrzycki said.
The top 10 on each event medaled. Bailey Fitzpatrick finished ninth on vault (9.05), Benavides eighth on bars, and senior co-captain Lauren Otter ninth on floor (9.125) to round out the medalists.
Ciara Johnson also competed in the all-around for Burlington, finishing 16th with a score of 32.875. Her top finish came on floor, where she scored 8.925 for 14th.
On Tuesday, Burlington Combined defeated Elkhorn 143.375-120.025.
Jenna Fitzpatrick won the all-around for the combined squad, scoring a 38.025 – the best score by any of the team’s all-arounder competitors this year. She also won the vault (9.425) and uneven bars (9.55), while sister Bailey won beam (9.60) and floor (9.60).
Benavides was out sick and did not compete.
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