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Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek

Big Walnut’s Natalie Mathews will be seeking her second consecutive trip to the state gymnastics meet when the Eagles compete in the district meet Saturday, Feb. 25, at Worthington Kilbourne. Buy This Photo

Natalie Mathews of the Big Walnut High School gymnastics team knows she can't afford to make any mistakes during the district meet Saturday, Feb. 25, at Worthington Kilbourne if she wants to get back to the state meet.

Last season, Mathews became the program’s first state qualifier. Hobbled by an ankle injury, she scored a 7.65 on the balance beam to tie for 35th behind the champion, Painesville Riverside's Maria Salvia (9.375), as 36 competed. She had advanced to state by scoring an 8.7 at district to tie for fifth.

The top nine finishers in each event at district, including the all-around, qualify for the state meet March 3 at Hilliard Bradley.

“I hope I don’t fall on beam,” Mathews said. “If I don’t fall, I have a good chance. If I do fall, then that’s it. But it’s my senior year, so I really hope I can get back.”

Big Walnut scored a 119.825 at district last season to finish 14th of 23 teams, behind champion DeSales (136.85) and the other two state qualifiers, Thomas Worthington (134.525) and Kilbourne (134.25).

The top three teams at district again this year qualify for state. The state team competition will be held March 2 at Bradley.

Big Walnut scored 125.1 in the OCC-Capital Division meet Feb. 11 at Dublin Coffman to finish third behind Dublin Jerome (128.925) and Bradley (127.575) and ahead of Central Crossing (119.0), Olentangy Orange (118.825) and Mount Vernon (102.975). Franklin Heights (27.5) had one gymnast.

Orange was the defending league champion.

“Our team did the best that we’ve ever done at OCCs,” Mathews said. “Getting third was exciting, and we beat Orange, which was exciting. We had some falls, which was disappointing, but we did our best.

“Hopefully we can do better than a 125 (at district).”

The overall OCC-Capital standings were not complete as of the league meet, as Big Walnut entered last week needing to make up a dual against Mount Vernon that was postponed Jan. 13 because of bad weather.

Jerome finished 5-0 in league duals and Bradley went 4-1. The Golden Eagles were third at 2-2 and Orange was fourth at 2-3. The overall league standings are a combination of the league meet and the league duals.

Big Walnut’s overall score in the league meet was its third highest to that point in the season. The Eagles had a 126.8 in a quad meet Jan. 28 and finished sixth in the eight-team Sweeney/Smith Invitational on Feb. 4 at DeSales with a 125.25.

“I thought they had a great meet,” coach Misty Lloyd-Matthews said. “They didn’t hit 100 percent, but that’s OK. We're hoping they have that perfect meet at districts. That’s the most important meet. But I think they’re doing OK. They’re improving every meet, and that's all I can ask for.”

Mathews led Big Walnut in the league meet on beam (8.2), vault (8.45), uneven bars (7.85) and the all-around (32.8). She place fourth on vault and bars, tied for fifth on beam and was fifth in the all-around.

“She looked good everywhere,” Lloyd-Matthews said. “It was one of her best meets.”

The only other gymnast to place in the top six for the Eagles was senior Macey Hale, who was sixth on bars (7.525).

Senior Krystina Stacy had Big Walnut’s highest score on the floor exercise with an 8.45. Turning in the Eagles’ second-highest scores were Mathews on floor (8.3), senior Victoria Lawyer on beam (8.025) and the all-around (30.6), Hale on bars (7.525) and senior Emma Bauer on vault (8.125).

•The boys basketball team is seeded 11th in the Division II district tournament and will play Granville in the first round at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, at Dublin Scioto.

The winner plays fourth-seeded Watterson or Sparta Highland in the second round at 7:45 p.m. March 1 at Scioto.

“We thought we’d be (seeded) anywhere from 10 to 13,” coach Eric Myers said. “Looking at everyone’s record, of all the teams in the district, we had the most wins against Division I teams. Our strength of schedule, I’d really put that up against anybody’s.”

Before concluding the regular season against Franklin Heights on Feb. 17, Big Walnut was 10-9 overall, including 6-8 against Division I opponents.

Granville, which is a member of the MSL-Ohio, is led by guards David Fraley and Michael Steensen and post player Ethan Schmidt. The Blue Aces improved to 10-9 with a 63-53 win over Columbus Academy on Feb. 14.

Steensen had 15 points against Academy, followed by Fraley with 14 and Schmidt with 12.

“When we (scouted) them, we thought, ‘Boy, they’re almost a mirror of us,’” Myers said of Granville. “They’ve got an identical record (before Feb. 17), they’ve got a couple nice guards and a nice post player inside and their scoring is pretty balanced, but we think it’s pretty good matchup. Overall, we’re happy with our draw.”

Big Walnut, which hasn’t lost its tournament opener since 2006, has not played Granville this season but lost to the Blue Aces 56-52 in its regular-season finale a year ago.

The Eagles have not played Watterson since the 2004-05 season, but they defeated Highland 57-37 in the first round of the tournament last season before losing to fifth-seeded Centennial 57-30 in the second round.

If Big Walnut advances, it likely would play third-seeded Hartley in a district semifinal March 7 at Scioto and likely would face second-seeded Brookhaven in a district final March 9 at the Fairgrounds Coliseum.

“The boys are practicing well right now and we have a pretty good feeling in the locker room at this point,” Myers said after a 61-41 win over Mifflin on Feb. 15. “It’s a long season. Fortunately, we’re pretty healthy. We're dinged — we have some bumps and bruises — but I think the boys are in the right frame of mind for the start of the tournament (this) week.”

The win over visiting Mifflin followed back-to-back road losses to New Albany (48-28 on Feb. 7) and Mount Vernon (47-38 on Feb. 10).

“We knew all season that was going to be a tough week, going to New Albany and to Mount Vernon,” Myers said. “They're both traditionally tough places to play. We talked after those losses and we all agreed that this isn't the end of the season, it’s the beginning. All of (the regular season) is in preparation for the tournament.”

Through 19 games, senior guard Grant Beam was averaging a team-high 12.2 points, followed by senior guard Tyler Beam (8.7), junior forward Adam Shaheen (8.1), senior forward Seth Wandling (6.1) and junior guard Zach Laughman (5.6).

•Both the boys and girls swimming teams advanced to the district meet in two individual events and all three relays.

The boys team scored 353 points in the three-team Division II sectional meet Feb. 11 at Thomas Worthington to finish ahead of Beechcroft (144) and Buckeye Valley (27).

There were no automatic qualifiers from the sectional site for the district meet Feb. 17 at Ohio State, but 27 at-large district berths were awarded for each swimming event based on times in the Central, East and Southeast sectionals.

Qualifying for district were sophomore Carter Marsch in the 100-yard breaststroke (1 minute, 12.28 seconds), junior Carson Chatterton in the 100 butterfly (1:00.73), the 200 medley relay of Marsch, Chatterton, senior Connor Moran and sophomore Joel Windle (1:57.6), the 200 freestyle relay of Marsch, junior Parker Marsch, Windle and Chatterton (1:42.34) and the 400 free relay of Carter Marsch, junior Ben Stefaniak, Windle and Chatterton (4:03.16).

The top two finishers in each swimming event at district automatically qualified for the state meet Thursday, Feb. 23, and Friday, Feb. 24, at Branin Natatorium in Canton, and 16 at-large state berths were awarded for each swimming event based on times statewide.

The boys team’s highest district seed was the 200 free relay, which was 14th.

The girls team scored 53 points in the 11-team Division I sectional meet Feb. 11 at Thomas Worthington to finish ninth behind champion Thomas (262).

The winner of each swimming event at the sectional site automatically qualified for the district meet Feb. 18 at Ohio State, and 27 at-large district berths also were awarded for each swimming event based on times in the Central, East and Southeast sectionals.

Big Walnut did not have any first-place finishers at sectional, but qualifying for district with an at-large berth were sophomore Jessica Osburn in the 100 breast (1:15.38), sophomore Michelle Stefaniak in the 500 free (5:48.99) and Osburn, Stefaniak, junior Natalie Chatterton and freshman Claire Chatterton in the 200 free relay (1:50.01), 400 free relay (4:06.37) and 200 medley relay (2:06.01).

The top two finishers in each swimming event at district automatically qualified for the state meet Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25, at Branin Natatorium, and 16 at-large state berths were awarded for each swimming event based on times statewide.

The girls team’s highest district seed was the 200 free relay, which was 17th.

Also expected to compete at district for the girls team was freshman diver Ashley White. The top four finishers in diving at district qualified for state. The state competition will be held Saturday, Feb. 25, at Branin Natatorium.

There was no diving competition at sectional.

•The girls basketball team concluded OCC-Capital play with a 46-31 win over visiting Mount Vernon on Feb. 10 in its regular-season finale.

Big Walnut finished 7-7 in the league, tying Delaware for fourth behind Orange (14-0), New Albany (12-2) and Bradley (9-5) and ahead of Watkins Memorial (4-10), Mount Vernon (3-11) and Franklin Heights (0-14).