Published: Jan. 15, 2014
Hartford freshman shines on uneven bars, West wins dual
Spartans open conference with victory
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor
Halli McCauley’s 8.3 on the uneven bars was a bit of a
shock.
Then she got an even bigger shock: She can do better.
McCauley, a freshman on Hartford Union’s gymnastics team,
won the bars event in Tuesday night’s Wisconsin Little Ten Conference dual
against West Bend West.
The Spartans won the dual, 129.25-120.675, and it was both
teams’ first conference meet of the season.
“We saw some things get better, some things get worse, but
overall they just looked tired,” West coach Jackie Vorpahl said.
West’s Bailey Wagner won the all-around with a 34.85. The
senior was also first on vault (9.05), balance beam (9.025) and floor exercise
(8.7).
“They were consistent,” Vorpahl said of Wagner’s scores. “We
want to get the bars up. That needs to come up. The others were pretty good.
“There was a little bobble at the end of her floor routine,
otherwise she would’ve had three 9s tonight.”
In addition to McCauley’s score on bars, her teammate, Megan
Maloney, took second on the apparatus with an 8.125.
“That’s exciting against West,” Hartford coach Mary Scherr
said.
“I think overall we did OK,” she added.
Wagner took third on bars (8.075).
“Oh, really?” McCauley asked with a smile when she was told
she had won the bars event.
Maloney was also second on floor with an 8.525, which was a
personal best. In backto- back meets, Maloney, a senior, has broken a personal
best. In Saturday’s West Bend Invitational, Maloney scored an 8.825 on beam.
“She’s made a ton of improvements since last year,” Scherr
said of Maloney. “It shows in her performance. She’s been working hard. It’s
nice to see it pay off.”
Scherr added Maloney appears to have more motivation this
season, which bodes well for the Orioles.
McCauley had a strong day at the West Bend Invitational as
she finished on the medal stand (top six) in two events. It shouldn’t come as a
big surprise, however.
McCauley, while she may be a freshman, was in club
gymnastics at LaFleur’s Gymnastics in Germantown the past six years. Last year,
she competed at Level 7 and had one of her best seasons in the process.
She was the state champion at her level on bars and vault,
and in the all-around.
“Our team has been kind of toward the bottom (of the
conference), so I’m hoping we can get more up there,” she said about what she
hoped to bring to the team this season.
McCauley was shocked to find how she had won the bars
routine Tuesday, mostly because she took out a skill because she hurt her ankle
in practice Monday when her foot hit the bar during a skill.
Plus, it was against West and a gymnast in Wagner who will
likely challenge for the WLT Gymnast of the Year honor.
“It’s really awesome,” McCauley said. “I really wasn’t
expecting much.” When asked if her score could improve, she looked at her coach
who promptly said yes.
“I guess I can,” McCauley said with a big smile.
Scherr said she believes McCauley could get to as high as
9.0 with the bars routine.
“She’s got a lot of capabilities,” Scherr said. “There’s
still some things she’s missing with her requirements and things that she can
still work on cleaning up in her routine.
“There’s still room for improvement and so that’s exciting
to see her scoring this well to start out with, knowing those scores can jump
up.”
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