The Seymour gymnastics team finally got their season underway on Saturday at rival Columbus East.

It was a tight contest for the young Owls with good scores all around, but they came up just short to the Olympians, 102.25-96.7.

The Owls took the advantage in the vault exercise, clipping the Olympians 25.75-25.65, while Columbus East won the other three events.

Allie DeHart won the vault for the Owls with a score of 8.8 points. Teammate Brooklyn Delph finished outside the top three with a score of 7.6. Lores Mellencamp was the runner-up in the uneven bars with a score of 5.85. Ivy Brown was outside the top three with a score of 5.4.

Syanvy Hill was third in the balance beam with a score of 6.8, while teammates Ivy Brown and Jenna Wheeler totaled scores of 6.7 and 6.0. Delph and Megan Bailey competed well in the floor exercise, but were outside the top three with scores of 6.95 and 5.05, respectively.

In the all around, Kayli Carter finished fourth overall with a score of 31.45. She had her best score in the vault with a score of 8.5, and had good showings on the beam (7.55), the bars (7.65) and floor (7.75).

Elsewhere for the Owls, Lillie Cote scored 30.95, Marlo Cornn scored 29.15 and Grace Lewis scored 29.05.

Cote scored 8.55 on the vault, 6.85 on the beam, 7.35 on the bars and 8.2 on the floor. Cornn had the best score for the Owls on the vault with an 8.65, she scored a 7.85 on the beam, a 7.6 on the floor and 5.05 on the bars. Lewis had an 8.2 on the vault, a 7.7 on the beam, a 7.4 on the floor and a 5.75 on the bars. 

Though it wasn’t a win, Seymour coach Angie Mellencamp was overly positive about the performances.

"Overall, it was a great first meet," she said. "We do have a lot of freshmen, so just to get them in front of the judges for the first time, it was a good day."

She added that nerves played a little bit of a factor in their first meet.

"As usual, we had a lot of nerves, which in this meet is great for the nerves because it’s a smaller setting, and the girls can figure out a way to get through it," she continued. "We have a lot of cleaning up to do, but they did good. I was super-proud of them."

The Owls have their home opener on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. against Owen Valley.