Add another state championship to the Lake Braddock Bruins’ long list of titles in girls gymnastics.
The Bruins recently won their 13th Virginia High School League (VHSL) state crown — a statewide record and their fourth in a row — with a 147.875 point total in the Class 6 meet at their home gymnasium in Burke last Friday (Feb. 28).
The Battlefield Bobcats finished second in the tournament with a 144.325 score.
The four straight state titles is not a record: Lake Braddock holds that mark at five from 1995-1999. The team’s first state championship came in 1979. The Bruins also have been state runners-up seven times.
Leading head coach Mike Cooper’s Lake Braddock squad at this season’s state meet in the team and following day’s individual competition was senior gymnast Madison Bell.
Other Lake Braddock gymnasts scoring big in the team competition were Sofia Orphanos, Sophie Bodner, Abby Parrish, Julia Arnold, Kyla Tran and Mary Suson.
Bell, Tran, Bodner, Parrish, Orphanos, Arnold and Suson all scored nines on the various events in the team competition.
Lake Braddock’s team score on the vault was 37.125, it was 37.225 on the uneven bars, 36.425 on the balance beam and 37.1 on the floor exercise.
In the individual events at Lake Braddock on Saturday (March 1), Bell won the all-around championship with a 38.925 total. Bell was first on the uneven bars with a 9.925 score and the balance beam at 9.75. She was fourth on the floor exercise (9.55) and fifth on the vault (9.7).
Also for Lake Braddock, Suson was eighth on the bars (9.3), Arnold tied for 16th on the floor (9.15) and Tran tied for 20th on the beam (9.1).
Chantilly High School’s Allison Booker was eighth in the all-around with a 37.275 total. She was third on the vault (9.825).
McLean High School’s Skylar Thomas was 13th in the all-around (36.45), while South County High School’s Alexia Zakaryan was second on the bars (9.875).
In the team scoring, Chantilly finished fourth with a 138.875 total.
