Gymnastics: Dunwoody, Lakeside to meet at DeKalb Championships

Score Atlanta

Dunwoody will play host to the DeKalb County Gymnastics Championships on Thursday. Lakeside-DeKalb and Dunwoody have dominated the meet the past six years, with each school owning three county titles. Lakeside has claimed the last two and the Vikings’ bid for a three-peat will depend largely on senior Meg Stephens. Stephens won the all-around in 2012 and again last season when she placed first in all four events. Stephens edged the field with a 35.25 point total and Dunwoody’s Lizzie Marra placed second with 32.50, finishing ahead of Stephens' teammate Linsey Bergstrom’s 32.15. The top three and all six top all-around finishers from last year are back for Thursday’s meet. Southwest DeKalb is also loaded with seniors and head coach Bernice Foreman says this year’s meet will be all about the body of work her senior leaders have put in over the year’s.

“We’ve got some great underclassmen, but the goal this season has been to get our seniors performing as well as they can. The county meet is about them being in the spotlight,” said Foreman.

Lauren Jones, Gabrielle Ash and Zoria Edmondson are Foreman’s seniors and the team has bumped practice up to 6 a.m. this week to ensure the gym time is not disrupted. Cedar Grove and McNair also practice with the Panthers. The championships will start at 6 p.m. and the two-time defending champs will look to win its title under a new coach. Former head coach Jennifer McNulty had a baby last year and stepped away from coaching. New head coach Elizabeth Krieger will be guiding the program on Thursday.