When gymnasts Jaleesa Wilson of Panther Creek and Cathy Cortell of Green Hope squared off at the Tri-Eight meet, Wilson had edged out Cortell by a mere two-tenths of a point in the all-around competition to be named Tri-Eight gymnast of the year.

On Saturday at the state championships, just a week removed from going toe-to-toe at the conference championships, each girl walked away with a first-place finish in the all-around competition.

The championships were divided into small and large team competitions, with Panther Creek competing as a small team and finishing first overall thanks in large part to Wilson’s all-around 38.725 score.

Wilson, a senior, has already signed her letter-of-intent to compete collegiately next year at the University of Denver. She finished a half-point better than all other gymnasts in the small team competition.

Cortell, a junior, and Green Hope were grouped with the larger teams, and while Cortell came in first in the all-around with a score of 38.95, the Falcons finished in third place.

Cortell’s near-perfect marks were good enough to finish .45 points better than all other indivduals taking part in the large team competition.

Also competing in the small team competitions from our area were Apex, which took third, Athens Drive, which finished fifth and Cary came in eleventh.