SYRACUSE – Wawasee was approaching rarified air Thursday night, but still didn’t have enough juice to catch the defending gymnastics sectional champions. DeKalb, loaded with veteran stars, continued on its apex with a 102.325-99.025 victory at Wawasee.

The Lady Warriors, which posted its highest team total of the season, kept pace with the Lady Barons in everything but vault. DeKalb’s 1.7-point advantage on vault along with slight edges on bars and beam were the only differences between the two clubs.

Twin sisters Ryley and Hayley Gibson led the way on vault with a one-two showing of 9.3 and 9.1, respectively. Teammate Grace Gorman’s 8.65 gave DeKalb the top three scores in the event, with only Wawasee’s Reagan Atwood’s 8.65 near the pace. Ryley would accumulate a 33.875 all-around figure to lead her club. Caitlin Marlow added a top beam score of 9.0 and was second in the meet at 8.675 on floor to highlight her 33.8 all-around number.

Gorman was second on bars at 8.05 and posted a 33.525 of her own in all-around scoring.

Atwood led the meet’s bars numbers with an 8.325 and was the top performer on floor at 9.3 to go with an 8.7 on beam. Her 34.975 all-around figure was tops in the meet and the best all-around number for Atwood and Wawasee all season.

Adding to Wawasee’s big night was an career-high 8.6 on beam from Taylor Busse. Molly Smith was the other all-arounder for the Lady Warriors, scoring a 30.425.

While Wawasee (4-2) would have liked to have had the upset win, the coaching staff will take the result.

“Nika and I cannot even explain how proud we are of all of the girls,” stated Wawasee assistant coach Sarah Wegener. “Everyone from freshmen to seniors fought hard today. We scored 99 for the first time this season, and hopefully we keep the momentum going. Saturday at the Lakeland Invite will tell us where we are at as far as how we are preparing for sectionals.”

The Lakeland Invitational begins at 11 a.m. Saturday morning, with virtually the entire Wawasee Gymnastics Sectional lineup scheduled to participate. Wawasee’s next dual is Thursday at Elkhart Central.