The Seymour gymnastics team hosted Bloomington South and Columbus North on Thursday for a solid night of competition.

The Panthers and Bull Dogs both present good teams, and Owls coach Angie Mellencamp was pleased with the way her team came out and competed.

“It definitely pushes them,” Mellencamp said. “Columbus North is a phenomenal team, Bloomington South looks great this year and our girls showed up. They had great beam sets, some good bar sets. They went after their vaults. They weren’t there yet, but they threw them.”

North won the meet with a team score of 107.45, South totaled 103.1 and Seymour finished with 99.05.

Mellencamp was very pleased with the Owls’ beam sets Thursday night. Seymour had struggled with the beam for most of the season, but the Owls had a solid showing in that event.

Piper Hawkins had the best score at 8.6 for Seymour, followed by Marlo Cornn 8.25, Nev Cockerham 8.15, Grace Lewis 8.0 and Caitlin Thomasma 7.5.

“I was really proud of everyone today on beam,” Mellencamp said. “We haven’t had good beam sets all season. The girls have been focused on it, but we’ve been dealing with head colds, just sickness in general. It’s nothing serious, but it does throw off your game when you’re on 4 inches. The girls did really good. Everyone that competed beam tonight I was proud of.”

Seymour put in some new vaults, as well, and some of them worked, while others didn’t.

“The ones that didn’t know what they have to do in the gym this week to be ready for sectional,” Mellencamp said.

Hawkins placed fifth overall for Seymour in all-around score with a 31.150. She was able to rebound nicely after struggling with her bars routine.

Hawkins’ hand slipped on bars, and it frustrated her, but Mellencamp reinforced her that it wasn’t a technique issue, it was a freak thing that happens to everyone at some point. Gymnastics can be a mental game as much as it is physical, and Hawkins was able to bounce back nicely.

“When you’re in competition going from event to event, you should physically already be fine. It is the biggest mental game to go from an event that you didn’t do great on to another,” Mellencamp said. “It did throw her (Hawkins) off her game for a second. She jumped back on the beam and had a great beam set, and then she killed her floor routine.”

Hawkins finished fourth in her floor routine with a 9.150.

“The girls do really good cheering each other and pushing them to do better in their next event,” Mellencamp said.

Cockerham finished seventh in all-around with a 32.000, and Lewis placed ninth with a 31.550. Lillie Cote had high finishes in vault (sixth with 8.450) and bars (fourth with 7.80).

“Overall, it was a good night,” Mellencamp said. “I’m happy the new skills are already in and we have another chance to do them on Tuesday and then get them polished up for sectional.”

The Owls’ next competition will be Tuesday when they host Franklin at 6:30 p.m. It will be Senior Night for Seymour, and Cote is the lone senior on the roster.

After Tuesday, sectional will be coming up Feb. 26 at Columbus East.

“Hopefully, we can get everyone healthy, have a good meet Tuesday night and then polish things for sectional,” Mellencamp said.