Chesterton gymnasts peak at right time and finish fifth among 13 schools at the Crown Point sectional with season-high score of 104.550, just 2.25 points out of second place

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Chesterton made its final gymnastics meet of the season as a team its best meet of the season.
Other than Sammie Boster, who won two events outright, tied for another and placed fourth in another to win the all-around at the Crown Point regional Saturday, Chesterton gymnasts are done for the season.
The single word that best describes them: improved.
Sammie Boster dominated the competition, but she wasn’t the only one on the team at her best Saturday, when the Trojans scored a season-best 104.450 points. They placed fifth among 13 schools, one spot ahead of the tournament host.
Just one freshman gymnast, Crown Point’s Kenzi Kleven, finished ahead of Chesterton’s Leah Douglass, who totaled a 33.450 in the all-around standings, the 16th-best score.
Douglass also was Chesterton’s second-best performer on the vault, scoring an 8.300, the 24th highest total. Douglass scored an 8.100 for 18th in the bars competition. She earned an 8.925 on the balance beam, 17th in the field and the best Chesterton score not recorded by Boster.
Sophomore Adriana Perez, a Chesterton sophomore, finished 25th in the floor exercise with an 8.600.
“That’s our highest team score we got this year,” Trojans coach Christy Dzierba said. “They did well. They should be proud. This is one of the hardest sectionals in the state. They hung in and they did very well. They all worked hard, proud of them.”
Valparaiso won the team competition with a 111.175 and Portage was second with 106.575, just 2.025 points ahead of Chesterton.
Team scores: 1. Valparaiso 111.175; 2. Portage 106.575; 3. Lake Central 106.450; 4. Merrillville 106.225; 5. Chesterton 104.550; 6. Crown Point 104.450; 7. LaPorte 100.725; 8. Michigan City 96.200; 9. Lowell 95.650; 10. New Prairie 77.675; 11. Westville 62.750; 12. Knox 35.350; 13. Hobart 16.650.