Faster, stronger, more powerful Chesterton junior gymnast Sammie Boster, defending state champ in the balance beam, wins every event but the beam in Trojans’ close loss to visiting Crown Point, 103.825-102.176

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Chesterton junior Sammie Boster competed in front of the home crowd Tuesday night for the first time this season and the lights at Bailly Elementary and the smiles in the bleachers seemed to shine brighter. Boster has that effect on an audience.
Running faster and jumping higher than ever and looking more refined in her bars routine, Boster had easily the top all-around score of 37.700 and Crown Point’s Adrianna Matthews was second with 34.975 points.
Crown Point used its superior depth to prevail in the team tally, 103.825-102.176, in a much closer match than in recent years vs. the Bulldogs.
Boster, the defending state champion in the balance beam, won every event but the beam, where she was edged by Crown Point’s Annalise Urquiza, 9.25 to 9.200.
In earlier years, the uneven parallel bars tended to be Boster’s weakest event, but on Tuesday night, she triggered a team full of smiles with her routine that earned a 9.45 from the judges. Crown Point’s Kenzie Klevin was a distant second with an 8.300.
Boster’s floor routine earned a 9.525, giving her the win over Matthews (9.0750).
Boster showed right off the bat that she’s an even more powerful athlete this season with the way she sprinted down the runway and launched with so much power in the vault, the night’s first event. She all but kissed the ceiling and scored a 9.525 as heads in the bleachers shook in awe. CP’s Katie Tsiakopoulos was second with an 8.550.
Freshman Leah Douglass was Chesterton’s only other gymnast to land in the top six in the all-around with a 32.500. Douglass also placed sixth in the bars (7.400) and fifth in the vault (8.475).
Trojans sophomore Adriana Perez’s peppy floor routine again was well-received by the judges, who gave her an 8.750, good for fourth place in her best event.