Posted: March 2, 2010 |(0) Comments

Last year, Mary Liniewski's Whitefish Bay girls gymnastics team came in as heavy underdogs at the WIAA State Division 2 Meet as River Falls had turned in a preposterously high score in the sectional.

That didn't matter, as the Blue Dukes pulled off something of a miracle upset to claim the state title.

This time around, Bay is coming in as defending champion, with a few nicks and injuries to deal with, with the target placed firmly on its back.

And looking at the balanced field, Liniewski feels this weekend's meet in Wisconsin Rapids is really up for grabs.

"It really is anyone's game," she said. "There are about four teams within .5 of a point of one another (based on sectional scores)."

The Blue Dukes prepped for state by easily winning their own sectional Friday with a season high score of 143.15, while Elkhorn took the second state team with 127.575 and Shorewood earned third with a score of 121.1.

The Greyhounds advanced Asia Cruz in the all-around and the uneven bars to this weekend's state test.

State action will get under way at the Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln field house with individual competition at 5:40 p.m. Friday with team events to be held noon Saturday.

"We are peaking at the right time," Liniewski said, "but Sofie Yang did not compete on bars and floor (because of an elbow issue) and Maggie (Anderson, the team's top all-around) had to water down her routines because of major tendonitis in her ankle.

"She rolled her ankle in practice on the previous Monday, and we had to hold her out of practice until right before the sectional. Still, we have the potential to go even higher."

Despite her ankle issues, Anderson still won the all-around with a 36.8 score while teammate Kelly Danek was second with a 36.75. Anderson also took the vault (9.1) and the floor exercise (9.65) while Danek won the uneven bars (8.975) and Margaret Fitzpatrick the beam (9.5).

Bay took the top four spots in floor exercise (Danek, Tory Patek and Tessa Hansen also advancing as individuals) and the beam (Anderson, Yang and Danek claiming the spots). Anderson and Patek also earned state spots on bars, while Anna Syburg, Hansen and Danek went two-three-five, respectively, in the vault.

Those finishes demonstrated to Liniewski how the Blue Dukes can overcome their injury limitations and still come back with another gold trophy.

"What we have this year that we didn't have last year, is depth," she said. "We had Hannah (Wallace) and Maggie (Anderson) and then it was a lot of work. This year, the other three on each event have really stepped up."

"We have a lot of confidence in our new skills. We've really come a long ways since the beginning of the season. I couldn't be more proud." Liniewski said Anderson and Yang will adopt a "mind over matter" philosophy in working to overcome their injuries this weekend.

Liniewski was also happy for Cruz and the other members of the Shorewood team as many of them came up through Liniewski's club program.

"We were pulling hard for Asia," she said. "Those kids are really like family to us."

Cruz was fourth in the all-around (31.75) as teammate Yve Bennett missed out on an all-around state berth herself by just .175 of a point with a sixth-place effort of 31.475. Cruz claimed her state slot on bars with a fifth place score of 8.025.