Gymnastics: Mary Lynn Clark leads Washington-Lee to Virginia AAA Northern Region title

Washington-Leegymnastics Coach Joe D’Emidio looked at the district meet results this week and told his team it would need to bump up its scores to contend for a Virginia AAA Northern Region title.

Several of the Generals responded by adding extra tricks to their uneven bar routines. It turned out to be the difference they needed Thursday night at Lake Braddock to secure the Arlington school’s first region title in any sport in almost 35 years.

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In the final rotation, Washington-Lee closed strong on the bars, posting the best team score of the night in the event to edge McLean, 145.19-144.85, in the final standings. No Generals team had claimed a region title since girls’ tennis and baseball did it in 1977, according to Athletic Director Carol Callaway.

“It wasn’t me,” D’Emidio said of the choice to spice up the routines. “It was the kids. They wanted it bad enough that they deserve that trophy.”

Junior Mary Lynn Clark paced the Generals with a second-place finish in the all-around. Clark (38.21 points) couldn’t catch Madison sophomore Evelyn Nee (38.68), but her score was better than when she won the event last year. While Clark had trouble landing on both of her vault attempts, she still finished in the top four of all five of all four events with a win in the floor exercise.

Nee shrugged off a slow start in her floor exercise with near flawless performances in her final three events. She posted meet-bests on vault (9.85) and on the uneven bars (9.80).

“I thought I would place, but I know there are a lot of very good gymnasts here,” said Nee, who was the only Madison gymnast to compete at the meet. “I knew I had a chance, but they made it tough.”

The Generals finished third the past two years but had enough firepower in their lineup this time to ensure their first trip to the state AAA team meet. Junior Kylie Auble provided a strong complement to Clark, scoring at least 9.125 in three of her four events, and junior Madeleine Sendek finished 11th in the all-around.

They’ll be joined in the field by Madison next Friday at Salem High in Virginia Beach. The state individual meet will be held there a day later.

Clark missed the individual state meet last season to attend a club event, but she’s cleared out her schedule this time around. She said the chance to celebrate a team title and move on as a group far outweighed last season’s individual win.

“This time tears were almost coming out of my eyes, I was so excited,” Clark said. “It feels great after two years of almost making it [into the state tournament.] Not only did we make it, but we won — and it was a real group effort.”