By Angela Watts
Assistant GM, Washington D.C. Metro Area
* Click the links above to access a full photo gallery and dozens of video highlights of area competitors from Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford and the Northern Region!
** Full results listed below!
As Osbourn Park’s team huddled together on the floor awaiting the results from this weekend’s Virginia State Gymnastics Team Championships, there were a few moments on immense anxiety.
And, Coach Monica Brown said, impatience, too.
The Yellow Jackets, the two-time defending champions, thought they had narrowly edged Eastern Region power Kellam for their third straight title.
But the Knights’ coach had petitioned the judges to have the scores from the uneven parallel bars re-evaluated.
And Brown knew that if an error had been found, it could have meant the difference between first and second place.
“We knew we probably had them by a tenth of a point, but when they made that inquiry we didn’t know if that could change things,” she said. “So we really weren’t sure until they finally announced it.”
An in that instant, the anxiety turned to bliss. Osbourn Park did edge Kellam, 150.900-150.800, to become the first Prince William team to ever earn a three-peat.
The runner-up, each time, has been Kellam.
“The girls were so excited,” Brown said. “There were some tears of joy, and some sighs of relief, too. It was hard to wait through it all.
“But Kellam, really they are champions along with us. You can’t have a meet be that close and not feel that way.”
There was less drama — but equal excitement — surrounding the individual competition the next day, where Osbourn Park junior Megan McDonald took second in the All-Around competition behind Kellam’s Kirsten Strausbaugh, who also won the title in 2008.
McDonald did so by placing second on both vault (9.850) and bars (9.850), fourth on floor (9.625) and seventh on beam (9.650).
“It means a lot,” she said. “I didn’t even think I’d be a contender the past two years, but this year I thought I could actually do well, and second place is a big thing to me.”
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
2009 VHSL GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Team Scores
1. Osbourn Park 150.900
2. Kellam 150.800
3. Chantilly 144.975
4. Battlefield 144.400
5. Hickory 142.900
6. Atlee 141.400
7. Lake Braddock 136.800
8. Deep Run 126.450
Individual Competition
All-Around
1. Kirsten Strausbaugh, Kellam, 39.250
2. Megan McDonald, Osbourn Park, 38.975
3. Katie Brown, Kellam, 38.800
4. Megan Melendez, North Stafford, 38.550
5. Jennifer Ware, Princess Anne, 38.475
6. Erin Turner, Battlefield, 38.200
7. Katie Dennis, Oscar Smith, 38.075
8. Elly Taura, Chantilly, 37.900
9. Cameron Overstreet, Atlee, 37.525
10. Caitlyn Cook-Furr, Poquoson, 37.375
11. Amanda Famiglletti, Robinson, 36.900
12. Vicki Vesecky, Loudoun County, 36.775
Vault
1. Kirsten Strausbaugh, Kellam, 9.875
2. Megan McDonald, Osbourn Park, 9.850
3. Megan Melendez, North Stafford, 9.825
4. Katie Barton, Kellam, 9.700
5. Elly Taura, Chantilly, 9.675
6. Caitlyn Cook-Furr, Poquoson, 9.650
7. Sara Mogavero, Osbourn Park, 9.625
8. Erin Turner, Battlefield, 9.600
Bars
1. Kirsten Strausbaugh, Kellam, 9.900
2. Megan McDonald, Osbourn Park, 9.850
3. Hannah Chenault, Lee-Davis, 9.800
T4. Katie Dennis, Oscar Smith, 9.750
T4. Genevieve Bestercy, Great Bridge, 9.750
T4. Jennifer Ware, Princess Anne, 9.750
7. Katie Barton, Kellam, 9.675
8. Cameron Overstreet, Atlee, 9.625
Beam
1. Megan Melendez, North Stafford, 9.825
2. Kirsten Strausbaugh, Kellam, 9.750
3. Kourtney Burgsteiner, Hickory, 9.725
4. Katie Barton, Kellam, 9.700
T5. Jennifer Ware, Princess Anne, 9.675
T5. Erin Turner, Battlefield, 9.675
7. Megan McDonald, Osbourn Park, 9.650
T8. Alexis Priola, Hickory, 9.550
T8. Katie Dennis, Oscar Smith, 9.550
Floor
T1. Kirsten Strausbaugh, Kellam, 9.725
T1. Katie Barton, Kellam, 9.725
3. Jennifer Ware, Princess Anne, 9.700
4. Megan McDonald, Osbourn Park, 9.625
5. Elly Taura, Chantilly, 9.550
6. Crystal Blount, Tallwood, 9.500
T7. Erin Turner, Battlefield, 9.450
T7. Emily Bullen, Langley, 9.450
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