Gymnastics: B-CC defeats both Walter Johnson and Gaithersburg

By Kyle Wannen

With three of their top gymnasts out of the meet, defending champion Bethesda-Chevy Chase needed a boost from some girls on their team.

Luckily junior Abby Klein competed for the first time in over a year to help lead the Barons to victory over both Walter Johnson and Gaithersburg on Thursday.

"We have a lot of depth on our team which is what has helped us the last two years when we've won states so even though we were missing some girls, the other girls stepped up and had a great meet," B-CC coach Dana Creager said.

Last year Klein developed a stress fracture in her back and sat out all of last season recovering. She spent four months in rehabilitation to fix her injury but was helped by a friend who had suffered a similar injury the year before. On Thursday she finished fourth in the all-around competition while finishing tied for second on the uneven bars, fourth on the floor and fifth in both the vault and the balance beam.

"It felt good," Klein said. "I'm still working on everything, trying to get back to where I was but I'm getting there. I just wanted to be out here and it feels good to be back."

"I think she's still a little shaky right now, still working on her confidence but she's going to be another great competitor for us this year," Creager said.

Ebony Walters, the reigning Montgomery County all-around champion was with her private team at Virginia Beach. Junior Whitney Boross was away on a band trip and fellow junior Lydia Marks was out with mononucleosis. Without three of her teammates, junior Steph Golob finished first in the all-around after winning the vault, uneven bars and floor events. Sophomore Julie Seigel also finished second overall.

"Steph hasn't been in a gym in a year so were were a little worried about some of her routines but she was able to pull them out," Creager said.

"It was nice to compete again," Golob said. "I was just trying to be solid and help the team out. I think everyone else on this team stepped up."

Jenny Roche finished second in the all-around for Walter Johnson and won the balance beam event. Kailey Dickinson also finished sixth overall. The WIldcats defeated Gaithersburg by one hundreth of a point for second place.