SYRACUSE – It was a statement meet of sorts for the Wawasee gymnastics program. Facing a perennial sectional contender in Lakeland Thursday evening, the Lady Warriors used strong performances on bars and stayed ahead of the Lakers in the other events to claim a 97.775-92.225 victory.

Wawasee’s showing on bars was vital, outscoring Lakeland 23.325-19.775, putting needed distance on the sheets. Leading the Lady Warriors on the unevens were Reagan Atwood at 8.125 and Taylor Busse at 7.85, placing first and third, respectively. Lakeland’s best effort on bars came from Samantha Gieseking, whose 7.9 split the Wawasee duo, but was the only Lakeland gymnast to score over a 6.1.

Atwood was strong all around once again in pacing Wawasee. A 9.2 on the floor, 8.4 on vault and 8.1 on beam were all top-three scores, the floor number tops in the meet. Busse added an 8.2, second-place score on beam and added an 8.35 on vault. Providing solid scores for Wawasee were Molly Smith’s 8.4 on vault and a pair of big numbers from Meghan Beer, posting 8.0 on beam and 8.05 on floor.

“Freshman Meghan Beer had a fantastic meet tonight,” said Wawasee assistant coach Sarah Wegener. “She gave us a no-fall beam routine with a personal best score, and also did a fantastic job on the floor.

“These girls have been working really hard in practice and it shows. We are making progress on each event and are really excited with the enthusiasm the girls have shown the last few meets.”

Gieseking would have a huge meet, placing first on vault (8.5), first on beam (9.0) and second on floor (8.925), combined with her beam score, the 34.325 all-around total was tops Thursday night. Atwood had Wawasee’s only all-around total at 33.825.

Wawasee’s JV scored 78.6 against Lakeland’s one JV gymnast. Posting top results in the JV competitions were Beer on vault (7.95), Bridget Griffin on floor (8.0), Katelyn Baker on vault (6.2) and Autumn Yoder on beam (7.6).

The Lady Warriors move to 4-1 on the season, with all four wins against sectional opponents. Up next for Wawasee is a trip to Kendallville Monday evening against another sectional opponent in host East Noble.