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GARLAND -- Five Vikings led Bryan to the top of the state gymnastics charts this season. One of them played the lead role to perfection.
Matthew Kelly won the all-around competition, helping the Bryan boys gymnastics team win the Class 5A championship Friday night at the Garland Convention Center.
Bryan won with an overall score of 340.8, seven points ahead of second place Hearst LD Bell at 333.525. Host school Garland Lakeview Centennial finished third at 329.4.
Bryan's Kelly is the first Bryan boy to win the all-around competition in Vikings head coach JT Fletcher's 22 years with the team. Last year, Bryan's Alyssa Zawieja won the girls' all-around competition.
"We really pulled away big-time on the second day," Fletcher said. "Some people were saying today this was the largest victory margin in a long, long time."
Bryan's Isaac Rodriguez finished fourth in the all-around competition. Kelly and Rodriguez, along with teammates Enoch Rodriguez, Stefan Quartemont and Alex Reyes, all qualified for the individual event finals after the first two days were finished. All five Vikings will compete in Saturday's skill rings final.
It is the first time since 1979 that a team of all-around competitors won the 5A championship, according to Fletcher. When Bryan won in past years, the Vikings carried teams of 13 specialists.
"I'm so proud of our guys tonight," Fletcher said. "What I'm even prouder of, though, is the way they carried themselves. Our girls coach was sitting in the stands and kept hearing how well our boys carry themselves. They weren't cocky or boisterous. We received a lot of compliments on how well our boys behavior reflected on Bryan High, and this is from people we didn't even know."
The individual event finals will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday.
