Girls gymnastics: Permian second, OHS third at District 3-5A meet

The San Angelo Central girls gymnastics team eliminated all the drama from the District 3-5A Championships on Tuesday during the compulsory round.

So, the Odessa High Lady Bronchos decided to add some of their own Wednesday for head coach Gayla Billingsley during the optional competition inside the Permian Fieldhouse.

Sitting comfortably in third place entering the day and needing just 85.85 points to reach the qualifying mark of 190 for next week's Region III Championships, Odessa High struggled throughout the day to the point that when the Lady Bronchos were finished, Billingsley thought their season was as well.

"We didn't make it," she said in response to a parent's question of the team's score. "That's never happened to me, not qualifying for regionals."

It still hasn't, but Billingsley likely will be letting someone else add up the scores next time.

The Lady Bronchos scored just 91.675 points to finish with 195.825, which dropped them from third to fourth in the final standings. However, they will be practicing for at least one more week.

"I hope this is a wakeup call for the girls," Billingsley said. "For whatever reason, they haven't been working as hard as they need to and now they know what they have to do."

The defending state champion Lady Cats, behind the strength of sweeping the top four spots in the all-around race, scored 228.95 points to handily capture the crown.

The host Lady Panthers finished second with 208.70 points and Abilene High moved from fourth to third with 201.75 points. Abilene Cooper finished fifth with 94.375 points.

Cristin Harper won the all-around crown with 76.25 points, with Liana Kupillas (76.00), Chaney Collins (74.875) and Stormy Luera (74.60) finishing second, third and fourth, respectively.

"They did well, but we probably have to make some improvements on bars," San Angelo Central coach Tony Walker said. "Just a few little things that we have to clean up.

"Execution-wise, I thought everything looked good."

Permian's Heather Waner was the highest local finisher, placing sixth with 70.425 points.

Roxi McGuire of Odessa High was seventh at 69.325, Sara Wills of Permian finished eighth at 68.85 and teammate Erin Cranson was ninth with 67.20 points.

Lady Panthers coach Brandi Pettus was pleased with the second-place showing, but knows that her squad needs to find some more scoring by next week, when the qualifying mark for the state championship increases to 215.

Pettus says the points are there.

"With all the mistakes that we made, if we just clean those up, that's six points," Pettus said. "We were inconsistent and that's something we'll work on.

"Getting from district to regional is one of the goals for the team and then next goal is to qualify for state. I think the girls will be focused this week in practice and will be ready."