Kary Ann Cyr performed better than usual and Christina Habershaw's efforts earned her a spot on a state team when the Mt. Hope High School gymnasts vied in the Midge Palmer Individuals Meet at Rhode Island College recently.

Cyr, thanks to a pair of 8.1 scores, finished with an all-around total of 31.8 to rank 27th in the state among those who qualified for the elite event in all four disciplines.

"She placed higher than what she went in at," said Mt. Hope coach Melissa Gendreau. "So she did really well."

Habershaw hobbled through her floor routine but still managed to earn a 31.5 four-event score and finish two spots behind Cyr. Habershaw, by virtue of finishing in the top six among senior competitors, earned a berth on the Rhode Island team which will vie in the Senior Nationals at Florida's Walt Disney World in May.

"It's great that she got a spot on the team," Gendreau said. "She's had a foot or ankle problem since last year. I had to turn off her floor music on her but she went through the routine without it. The next day she was on crutches."

Habershaw most likely will be ready to compete in May. The senior is one of three Mt. Hope gymnasts who will graduate in June. Alicia Rodrigues, who mainly competed on floor and vault and sometimes on balance beam, and Sarah Bisch, who filled in where needed, won't compete for the Huskies again.

"We'll miss them both," said Gendreau. "Alicia was steady and Sarah was all-around by the end of the year. Wherever I needed her she'd go. Sarah didn't care if she got a one or a two for a score. She knew she was there as a part of a team and pitched in wherever she was needed. I don't think I've ever had a girl with a better attitude."

Mt. Hope finished the year with a 2-10 record in Division One and next year will participate in Division Two. Although the Huskies had a mostly inexperienced team, they also were hit hard by the weather.

"We lost meets this year because of snowstorms," Gendreau said. "When we made them up, we had five teams competing at the same meet. One meet for us counted for a bunch of scores."

Fatima star

Fatima's Cara Baptista, a gymnast who trains with Mt. Hope, finished thirteenth at the meet with an all-around score of 34.55. She came through with a pair of excellent efforts on vault and floor but had some problems on uneven parallel bars and on balance beam.

"Had Cara hit on everything she would have been way up there," Gendreau said. "But she had two falls on beam and one on bars."

While those slips cost Baptista .5 for each fall, she still managed an 8.2 beam score and a 7.9 bars score. The junior danced her way to a 9.05 on floor and saved her best for vault where she tied Bay View's Kourtney Hundertmark for the top score of the meet, a 9.4.

"Cara did her first (psukahara) vault clean," Gendreau said. "I asked her what she wanted to do for the second one and she told me she really wanted to twist it. It's a vault she hasn't stood up all year. So she did it and landed it. It was amazing."

Hundertmark earned the top spot via judge's decision and Baptista placed second. The Fatima gymnast's 9.05 floor routine earned her seventh place overall. She qualified for the New England meet in both events.