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Gymnastics: Washington-Lee finishes second at Virginia AAA team meet, Mary-Lynn Clark takes second all-around at individual open meet

By Eric Detweiler,February 20, 2012

The Washington-Lee gymnastics team made its first trip to the Virginia AAA team meet memorable with a historic performance on Friday at Salem High in Virginia Beach. The Generals posted 146.2 points — their highest team score ever — to finish second behind Eastern Region power Cox at Salem High in Virginia Beach.

The weekend only got better for Washington-Lee when junior Mary-Lynn Clark posted a personal-best all-around score (38.65) to place second behind Western Branch’s Jamie Stone at Saturday’s individual open meet.

“It was kind of crazy how everything worked out,” Clark said. “No one really expected us to do that well. It was just a really cool experience. It felt like we were making history.”

Washington-Lee followed up its first Northern Region title with an even better showing at the season’s final meet.

Coach Joe D’Emidio — in his 35th season at the Arlington school — said he knew his team was in for a special night when all five Generals completed their beam routines without a single fall to open the event, and the group built momentum from there.

“My voice is still kind of lost from all the cheering and all the excitment,” D’Emidio said by phone Sunday. “When you’re in an environment like that, it’s really as exciting as any basketball game.”

Northwest Region champ Freedom-South Riding placed third with 144.475, while McLean (143.925) and Stafford (143.4) finished fifth and seventh, respectively, in the eight-team event.

On Saturday, Clark — who finished second in the all-around at the Northern Region meet — won individual titles on vault (9.9) and uneven bars (9.9). Only a few wobbles on the balance beam dropped her score in that event to 9.375, and allowed Stone to take the all-around title.

The vault win provided Clark’s best highlight. She missed two attempts to hit a front handspring, front flip at the region meet, so she started with a less difficult Tsukahara this time.

After sticking it to earn a 9.55, she went back to the front handspring, front flip and landed it to earn a near flawless mark.

“I was kind of surprised how good it was,” Clark said. “I’ll always remember that.”

“It just puts a little tingle in your backbone when you see that,” D’Emidio added.

Freedom-South Riding sophomore Arianna Robinson followed up her Northwest Region all-around title with 38.375 points and a third-place finish at Saturday’s meet. She bettered her region-winning score by earning 9.525 or better in three different events.

North Stafford senior Anika Woodard, a returning All-Met, took seventh in the all-around, finishing fourth on vault (9.8) and sixth on uneven bars (9.625).