MIDDLEBURY — Defending state champion Essex visited the Middlebury Union High School team on Saturday and as expected came away with a 120.5-96.3 victory, but there were bright spots for a Tiger team with 11 sophomores and freshmen on its 13-strong roster.
With Essex choosing not to compete in the all-around, Tiger junior Leah Raymond won that event and also placed fifth on the beam.
Freshman Emily Laframboise was second in the all-around, and also placed sixth on the beam, while classmate Lian McGarry also broke into the Hornet domination on the equipment by taking sixth on the bars.
Mount Abraham independent Abby Perlee, who practices with the Tigers, also fared well. Perlee posted the highest non-Essex finish in an individual event by tying for fourth on the vault, and she also finished third in the all-around competition, which is based on gymnasts’ total scores in all four disciplines.
Rounding out the scorers for the Tigers were freshman Ada Anderson and sophomore Olivia Beauchamp, who were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the all-around.
Winning events for the Hornets were Anna Charland in the vault (8.25), Abbie Evans on the bars (7.6), Charland and Lindsey Gleason on the beam (tied at 8.7), and Mya Dusablon in the floor exercises (8.0).
The complete Tiger and local independents’ results in each event were:
Vault: 4. Perlee, 7.6; 6. Laframboise, 7.2; 8. McGarry, 7.1; 9. Raymond, 7.0; 11. Anderson, 6.9; 12. Anna Buteau, 6.5; 13. Beauchamp, 6.1.
Bars: 6. McGarry, 5.5; 7. Perlee, Laframboise and Raymond, 5.3; 10. Anderson, 5.1; 12. Arianna Slavin, 4.4; 13. Beauchamp, 3.0.
Beam: 5. Raymond, 6.7; 6. Laframboise, 6.6; 7. Buteau, 6.5; 9. Perlee, 5.8; 11. Anderson and Beauchamp, 5.5; 13. Laura Whitley, 5.0; 14. Isabelle Lucarelli, Mt. Abe, 4.7.
Floor: 7. Anderson, 5.6; 8. Raymond and Perlee, 5.5; 10. Buteau, 5.3; 11. Laframboise, 5.2; 12. Lucy Ursitti, 4.7; 13. Lucarelli, 4.6; 14. Beauchamp, 4.0.
All-around: 1. Raymond, 24.5; 2. Laframboise, 24.3; 3. Perlee, 24.2; 4. Anderson, 23.1; 5. Beauchamp, 18.6. 
TIGER FRESHMAN ARIANNA Slavin does the splits on the beam during Saturday’s gymnastics competition in Middlebury.
Independent photo/Trent Campbell