THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702220644
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: STAFFORD LENGTH: 36 lines
Lake Braddock took the fun out of the Group AAA state high school gymnastics party Saturday at Brooke Point High.
In the Northern Region meet last weekend, the Bruins shattered the state team scoring record by breaking the 150-point mark.
So the question wasn't who would win . . . only by how much.
Lake Braddock made sure they didn't disappoint by breaking their own record of 151.8 with an amazing total of 152.45.
That breaks down to an average of just over 9.5 on each scoring routine.
More than enough to give the Bruins their third-straight state team title by besting Cox - which finished second for the third time in a row - with 145.75.
Beach and Eastern Region champion Salem was without state individual all-around record holder Kit Johnson and finished fourth behind Oakton.
Salem had set the previous state record with a 148.65 at the Beach District meet. Lake Braddock took its cue and tied that mark in its district meet before breaking it last week and again Saturday.
But even after breaking the 150-mark, Lake Braddock coach Mike Cooper said his team wasn't interested in records.
``They can be broken,'' he said. ``We were more interested in winning a third-straight title.
``Now we can shoot for North Stafford's record of four-straight.
``I was shocked when we broke 150 last week,'' Cooper said. ``I don't keep score during the meets, but I could tell we were on all cylinders.
``It seemed like we were doing even better tonight. We were thinkin very hard about winning.''
The competition today turns to individuals, who will battle it out beginning at 1:30 p.m. for their own honors.