Valpo gymnasts claim highest point total of season

VALPARAISO | Members of Valparaiso's gymnastics team have had their sights set on continuous improvement, coach Lorie Cook said. And their aspirations met with success Tuesday, as the team scored its highest point total of the season by more than a point.

The Vikings won their dual meet against the Chesterton Trojans 112.85 to 106.025.

"What we wanted to do was get another tenth of a point every counting score from last week, which was 111.7, so that would be a 112.9," Cook said. "We'd thought we'd get the benefit of the doubt and get the 113. So we came pretty close."

Valparaiso's Morgan Algozine won vault, bars and the floor exercise with 9.7 scores, while Hannah Erwin took the balance beam title (9.5). Algozine also won the all-around with a score of 38.2. Algozine placed sixth in the beam exercise after falling during the middle of her routine. 

"There was a little bit of pain, but honestly it wasn't important," Algozine said. "I needed to get up there and finish my routine because we needed that team score."

Allie Lazerwitz placed second in vault and beam and in the all-around. The Vikings' highest score came in the floor exercise (28.45) and bars (28.575), taking the top three places in each event. 

"Morgan and Hannah and Allie put out some great routines and scores. We'd like to keep working on our vaults," Cook said. "We know we can and need to do better. We had a very good meet against a very high-quality team."

"We've been working really hard, and it was really good to see it pay off," Algozine said. "It was one of our best meets of the year with our highest score. It was a really good feeling for all of us."

For the Trojans, Brandi Tuzinski placed third in the all-around with a 36.475 score, and second in the beam (9.45). No other Trojan placed higher than third in the other events. Their best score came in the beam with 27.225 points. 

"This year, especially since it's my first year (coaching), I don't like to measure myself against the other teams in the area," Chesterton coach Lauren West said. "I like to see the progress that we're making week to week for the girls because that's more real to them. What we really like to focus on is how the performances get better each week. And they are, that's where we need to be. And we're going to continue to get better, continually adding new tricks and build on the skills that we have."