USA Gymnastics

WORCESTER - For the Barnstable girls gymnastics team, the old saying is apropos: If it's not broke, don't fix it.

Just like during their South sectional meet win, the Red Raiders were the model of consistency through their first two rotations, got the nerves during balance beam, then wowed the crowd during floor exercise to finish first in last night's state meet at the DCU Center with an overall score of 146.650.

'We started out well,' said Barnstable coach Duncan Chase. 'Our first two events were impressive, but then we had a little bit of falls on beam.'

Barnstable did not score below 9.1 on the vault, its first event, completing handspring pike and Yurchenko pike vaults. They moved on to the uneven bars, where Lauren Hansen, JoJo Leveroni and Jillian Fraser solidified the rotation for the Red Raiders with hit routines, including Leveroni and Fraser's double-back dismounts.

After the first two rotations, Barnstable had a solid lead over second place Sharon and third place Nauset, but the balance beam nerves broke out again.

'I could tell they were a little scared, a little nervous on beam,' said Chase. 'It was a long ride up here, and the girls were really excited, and I think it got to them.'

Barnstable fell fewer times than the five they had in sectionals, but this time the Red Raiders lost key combination points on the falls and balance checks. They scored only a 35.425 on the event, opening the door for Nauset on uneven bars.

Nauset hit five clean routines on bars, a complete 360 from their South sectionals performance where it had to count several falls. State individual all-around champion Kim Stewart anchored the rotation for the Warriors, scoring a 9.550, with a clean transition with a half twist from the high to low bar and a double-back dismount.

Heading into the last rotation, Nauset had taken the overall lead, but Barnstable now had floor exercise, the event where the Raiders boast the most difficulty of any team in the state. Fraser closed the meet and secured the win for Barnstable by completing a roundoff back handspring double full and a roundoff back handspring layout full.

Sharon used a rock solid evening from senior Samantha Kaplan to edge Nauset for second place with a team score of 135.350. The Eagles' floor exercise had improved difficulty from sectionals, with both Kaplan, Jessica Chabot and Samantha Kaplan upping their tumbling difficulty.

Nauset's Stewart took the meet's all-around title, thanks to a clean Yurchenko layout full vault that earned her the night's highest score, a 9.8.