I Woke Up 102 by M.P. Arsent
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Along about 5 am there was a knocking on the door. Dana got up and went to it. It was coach Matthews.
"We've got ourselves a bit of a problem. One of the guys has stomach cramps and they're taking him to the infirmary. Dennis that means both you and Dwayne are up today.
"Well this should prove to be pretty damn interesting. Ok Coach you know I'll give it my best shot."
"I do Dennis. Now I suggest you get ready for breakfast and to go warm up."
"Yes sir."
Dana and I both headed for the shower at the same time.
"You first Dana."
"Ok."
I shaved while Dana was showering and then we switched places. Soon enough we were ready to go out front to meet our guides.
"So I hear you're on the frontlines Dennis."
"Yeah and we're still going to win this meet."
"We'll see about that."
We were off to breakfast and then back to our rooms to get our equipment and then over to the venue and had our warm up. Then it was back into the locker room to wait while the other guys did their warm up. I went off into a corner so that I could really get my head together for this. Seems like everybody else had the same idea as it was very quiet in the locker room.
Soon enough Coach called us to line up and when we took the floor our supporters made a hell of a racket, and I could see that the Ashton squad might have been a little intimidated by their presence.
I found Karl and the guys in the bleachers and when the scoreboard lit up for the first time I could see the look of surprise on their faces. Karl locked eyes with me and just nodded.
We were paired up with guys from the other squad and I ended up with Vincent. I tried to remember what his weak points were so I could watch for them throughout the competition. Vincent had trouble on the pommel I remembered. Naturally we started at the pommel horse. As usual I kept my attention focused on what was happening in front of me. The scores would be whatever they would be.
I watched as Vincent started his routine. He did a great routine and it was obvious to me he had been doing a lot of work on the pommel.
I focused myself and went and did my routine,remembering specicfically to keep my toes pointed during my flair work. When I nailed my dismount, without even a hint of a wobble, there was applause from our guys and a few of the locals as well.
Next up were the rings and Vincent had a pretty good routine here as well, though his control of the rings could have been a bit better.
I went up and did my routine and had a bit of a wobble when I landed my dismount. Not too serious but I knew I'd lose a couple of tenths from my score.
Parallel bar routines were completed and I thought Vincent and I were pretty even so far. Much as I wanted to check I didn't look at the scoreboard nor did I listen to the announcer. I knew I had to stay focused on what I was doing.
High bar was next. Vincent reached for the bar and then let go of it. He adjusted a piece of his equipment and then started again. Not a fatal error and as he hadn't started his swing to his first move, there wouldn't be any deduction for it. Though it was something that the judges would keep in mind. He proceeded through his routine and to my eyes I didn't see any errors,until he ended up taking a step out of is dismount. When he returned to the bench I could see he was pissed with himself for that.
As per custom, I couldn't say anything to him but I did recall a meet where something similar had happened. Vincent had let that one mistake eat at him for the rest of the meet and it had cost the team that meet.
I couldn't let this affect me as I stepped up and made ready to start my own routine. I worked my routine and thought I had done it fairly well and I nailed my dismount.
Now we were down to just the vault and our floor excercise,both disciplines that I knew Vincent was excelllent at normally.
We moved to the vault station and got ready to make our runs. Vincent was up first and he made his approach and planted his hands for the push off. He made good height and did a double somersault with a twist. He had plenty of time to spot his landing, but even so he ended up stepping out of it again. He could still redeem himself with a good second vault.
It was my turn and I did the same vault, but ended up only having a small wobble on my landing. I was pretty much sure I had beaten my man as far as the meet was concerned.
Vincent did his second vault, again a double with a twist, and landed it much better.
I stepped up for my second run. I had been working on this for a while. It was a triple somersault with no embellishments. I made my run and planted my hands, was up and over the vault, One......two......three. I spotted my landing and planted my feet.
The place exploded with noise from both sides. To say that I was happy would have been a vast understatement. When I got back to the bench ,and as we waited to move to our final station, I could see that Vincent was a little shaken. I wished that I could have spoken with him but we both knew it wasn't allowed.
Finally we were allowed to move on over to the floor excercise. While it was true that I couldn't speak to Vincent, his coach and teammates could. I saw a few things said to him as we moved to our final excercise. There was a different look on his face we started getting ready to step up. It was, if I were to judge, one of determination. He looked me in the eye and I only nodded to him. Likely this was going to be the floor routine of his life. I was just as ready to put everything I had into it.
Vincent took his starting position and went into his routine. His first moves were executed cleanly and he was set up for his first tumbling run. He started to move across the mat and and exploded into his run which ended with a triple somersault,which he stuck. More of the floor moves and his flair work from the floor wasn't quite up to the standard that I remembered. He set up for his second tumbling run. Again he exploded into his run and ended with a double this time which he stuck once again. More flair work on the floor which didn't seem, to me at least, up to his usual standards. Then I understood. He had sacrificed the precision of his flair work to concentrate on the tumbling runs. It was evident when he set up for his final run that he was putting all of his effort into the runs. While it might have shown well to the casual observer of the sport I didn't think the judges were going to be overly impressed by it. Overall excellence was what they looked for.
Vincent completed his run and made his final moves and his routine was over. He did recieve a good amount of applause from those gathered.
Now it was my turn. I shut everything else out of my mind. The only thing before me was the mat on which I had to perform. I took my position and did my opening moves and set up for my first tumbling run which I ened with a double somersault. Floor moves and flair work followed and I moved across the mat to set up for my second tumbling run, again ending in a double. More floor moves and a bit more flair work and my final tumbling run. A series of single somersaults ending up with a triple. A few final floor moves and I was done.
There was a goodly amount of noise when I finished and I moved to the sidelines. Now I could look to the scoreboard and waited for my last score to be posted. I had bested Vincent by a point in the floor and then started compareing the other disciplines. Across the board I had bested him but only by a few tenths, with the exception of the vault where I had gotten him by almost a full point.
When I looked at the totals I knew I hadn't gotten the overall this time. It had in fact gone to one of the guys from Ashton, as had the meet. It was our first defeat of the season. I started to study the scoreboard and it was only a few tenths here and there. It wasn't the fault of any specific person. Several of us had been better than our counterparts in different things but the guy who had taken the overall for the meet had been spot on in all of the disciplines.
Vincent came over to me while things were getting sorted out for the awards ceremony.
"Dennis, we beat ya. Not by a lot but we got you."
"Your team did, but I got you Vin. We'll see how things turn out in May. Go get up there with your team."
Once the ceremonies were over we headed into the locker room and got showered up and ready to go back to our rooms and get our stuff to be back on the bus.
Coach came out to talk to us.
"Gentlemen, that was an excellent meet even if we didn't win. I'm sorry to have handed you your first lose of the season, but you all did very good work as far as I'm concerned."
Dana stepped up to the coach.
"Not your fault at all coach Matthews. We had an off day. It happens. Though loosing two of our regulars didn't hurt us physically, I think it might have played with our heads a little. We're still going to be able to attend the all states in May and we'll take our revenge there."
"I hope to be able to attened and see that done Mr Cosgrove. Now let's get our asses in gear! We still have a drive ahead of us!"
We all got ourselves squared away and back to our rooms and got our stuff and got the bus loaded. The Ashton team was there to see us off. We all shook hands with them and when I got to Vincent he pulled me into one of those back slapping hugs.
"Will I see you over Christmas?"
"Always a possiblity. Take care."
"You too."
We collected our "walking wounded" from the infirmary and made the trip home.
There was no big welcome as there had been for the last away meet, but Karl, Pete, Susan, Gordon , and Aiden were there waiting for me.
"Can't win 'em all Den."
"Yeah but it would be nice. Supper?"
"Tony's?"
"Works for me."
We were right there so we took his car and we were soon back on campus. We had our kiss and went our seperate ways for the evening. Texts were exchanged and soon lights would be out.
Now all we had to worry about was mid terms.