Bell girls take third place at state gymnastics meet

The Hurst L.D. Bell Lady Raiders wrapped up another great gymnastics season, finishing third at the Texas Gymnastics Coaches Association State Meet in Odessa late last month.

One look at their roster suggests the dynasty that includes 20 state championships (the most recent being 2016) isn’t ready to stop. Coach Debbie Williams’ squad only had two seniors out of 10 competitors, Desiray Rodriguez and Alexis Martin.

“Even though (the seniors) were key players, the eight who are returning, with a lot of hard work, will help make up a strong team,” Williams said.

The Lady Raiders won their district and region and came within less than a point of repeating as state champions.

Junior Kyleigh Prather won the all-around state championship. She had a counting score on all events.

“She will be back and determined to be better next year,” Williams said.

Junior Katelyn Hornsby placed on beam and was also a counting score on all events.

Joining them in returning will be junior Skylar Kirkpatrick and Miranda Hoyt, sophomore Mayson Hicks, and freshmen Annalise Gonzalez, Kiley Knittle and Nicole Rodriquez.

“They did a great job and are already looking ahead to next year,” Williams said.

Euless Trinity girls

Elsewhere, Euless Trinity Lady Trojans coach Rebecca Shaw lauded the performance of her girls in Odessa.

“I was very proud of my team’s performance at state. They hit seven out of eight events,” Shaw said. “They had the strongest optional meet of the season and hit all four events that day.

“They reached many goals and made it a successful trip.”

Rebeca Stricklin is the lone senior graduating from Shaw’s program. She will be competing for Team Texas on May 19 in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.

“She ended her career with Trinity gymnastics on a high note. I am very proud of Rebecca’s success,” Shaw said. “Everyone else will be returning and we will be adding a few more to our roster.

“This team has come a long way this year, mentally and physically. The motivational drive slowly kicked in here at the end of the season. I am really excited to see what will come from them next season.”

Returning for the Lady Trojans are juniors Halie McMillan and Isabelle Garcia, sophomores Madison Ryan, Nevaeh Capetillo, Lauren Landers and Jennifer Wei, and freshman Carlie Allred.

L.D. Bell boys

It’s hard competing in what is considered by most to be the toughest region in the state. The Blue Raiders scored 10 points higher at regional competition than they did a year ago and failed to qualify as a team for state.

“But that just means we need to work harder,” coach Sean Sims said. “Our goal all year long was to score 320 at regionals. We felt like that would get us in. And it would have. We came close, scoring 315.

“Obviously, it’s not what we hoped for. But there were some bright spots, and I’m hoping the kids use the end of the year as fuel for next year.”

Perhaps the brightest spot is all of the Raiders return next season.

“It’s hard to pick out just a few key returners, as many of them contributed in some way,” Sims said.

Junior Adam Tice was second all-around at regionals and has gone to state three consecutive years.

“Hopefully he can use that experience to lead the others,” Sims said.

The other state qualifiers, sophomores Cody Burnett and Isaiah Bushman, will bring back additional experience. Sims called sophomore Xavier Pineda “a very clean gymnast who brings some calm to the team.”

Freshman Iker Del Solar was a big help to the team on pommel horse at regionals.

“We had several freshmen compete, and hopefully (they) learned a lot and will contribute more next year,” Sims said. “And we have a talented group of eighth-graders coming up. We are hopeful for great things next year.”

Trinity boys

The Trojans lose four senior state qualifiers from this season: Aahil Ali, Jacob Cunningham, Christian Brummett and Zachary Harris. At regionals, Ali was seventh all-around and Cunningham sixth.

“The team fought hard to the very end,” head coach Travis Coulbourn said. “We are losing four seniors who have made up the majority of our score.

“It is going to take all of the returners and the new incoming members of the team working together and encouraging one another to make up for those scores. The talent is there we just have to refine it.”

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 2:57 PM with the headline "Bell girls take third place at state gymnastics meet."