We understood that they were stronger on floor and that was the only area where they beat us in the first meet. We were hoping to put up some points in the other three events, so we could have a cushion going into the floor. But we had a few problems on the bars and some errors on the beam throughout the meet, so that ended up not quite working out.

The kids did very well in terms of what we could do without Violette. We had to patch together with what we had. We did a great job on vault and a good job on floor. We had a few wobbles and difficulties on beam and the bars, but I think missing Violette probably made us a little apprehensive. Overall, it was good we were able to stay in close with them.

We knew going in how strong they were and that we'd have to go after them with some big skill moves. Some of that worked and some of it didn't tonight. In the first meet, I think we out-performed them and might have caught them a little off guard, but tonight they were incredible and we didn't quite get the job done.

Alex was sticking out at us. To use one of Jerry's terms, he was like a beacon light. I came in [Sunday] morning, and [area scout] Phil Emery was high on Alex. I said, 'Jerry, we've got to take this guy.' I literally had a dream about drafting him.

We played a tough schedule that allowed us to enter the West Regional tournament and we're excited to be there. The team deserves this opportunity.

All of us are, I guess, in our 40s except for one of us that just crossed the great divide (into 50).