March 21, 2015

Valpo Gymnasts State Champs Again, Owen Valley's Watkin wins All-Around
Valparaiso's girls gymnastics team had one individual winner and captured its second consecutive state championship today accumulating 113.100 points at Worthen Arena in Muncie.

Senior Rushelle Miller won the floor exercise with a 9.575 for the Vikings who won the school's state-leading 11th crown in the sport and sixth in the last eight years. All have come under the leadership of coach Lorie Cook.

Owen Valley junior Anna Watkin repeated as the winner on the balance beam with a 9.625 this year and collected the all-around title with 38.150 points.

Kylee Maxwell, last year's all-around winner and bars champ from Morgan Township, won the vault with a 9.85. She finished fourth in the all-around competition with a 37.675 and third in the bars with a 9.5.

Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger claimed runner-up honors in the team standings for the second year in a row and the ninth time overall with 110.925 points followed by Columbus North in third place with 110.100.

43rd Annual IHSAA Gymnastics State Finals 
March 21, 2015
Worthen Arena, Ball State University, Muncie, IN

Final Team Scores
1. Valparaiso 113.100
2. Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger 110.925
3. Columbus North 110.100
4. Owen Valley 109.550
5. Logansport 109.100
6. New Palestine 108.925
7. Portage 107.275
8. Carroll (Fort Wayne) 106.000
9. Homestead 103.525


State Champions 
All-Around: Anna Watkin (11) Owen Valley, 38.150.
Vault: Kylee Maxwell (11) Morgan Township, 9.85.
Uneven Bars: Ashley Holliday (10) Columbus North, 9.6.
Balance Beam: Anna Watkin (11) Owen Valley, 9.625.
Floor Exercise: Rushelle Miller (12) Valparaiso, 9.575.

Madison Moore of Homestead named Ball Mental Attitude Award winner
Following the event, members of the IHSAA Executive Committee named Madison Moore of Homestead High School as the recipient of the Mildred M. Ball Mental Attitude Award.

The award is presented annually to a senior participant in the state finals who is deemed to have best demonstrated mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability in gymnastics.

Moore was a part of three Homestead state finalist teams and was voted captain of the team for her senior season. She was named to the 2015 Academic All-State team in gymnastics and has also competed for two years in track and field for the Spartans. At Homestead, ranked 15th in her class out of 508 students with a 4.2 G.P.A and is the vice president of Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA). She also is a member of the National Honor Society, Key Club, and Photography Club.

The daughter of Marc and Tricia Moore of Fort Wayne, Moore will attend either the University of Chicago or Miami University (Ohio) with the intention of majoring in International Studies and double minoring in Languages and Anthropology.

The Committee presented $1,000 to Homestead High School's general scholarship fund in the name of Madison Moore.

The mental attitude award is named in honor of the former IHSAA assistant commissioner who served the Association from 1977 to 1997. During her career, Ball administered the state gymnastics tournament among other sports and also oversaw the licensing and training of all contest officials in the state of Indiana.