By TONY BELLISSIMO
Sixteen days after she won the Nassau County crown, Harris set a state record at the meet with an all-around score of 38.350, surpassing the previous mark of 38.225, set by Allie Southard of Nanuet two seasons ago. Suffolk's Lindsay Kovary of Whitman and Arielle Sucich of Kings Park finished second and third, respectively, with 38.1 and 37.875.
"Taking nothing away from the other girls, it was just a great effort on Nicole's part," Long Beach Head Coach Bill Muirhead said. "The competition was tremendous. She hit a beautiful routine on bars and that set the tone for the day. Her scores on the first two events gave her a nice cushion."
Harris, whose 2004 Olympic bid was derailed by an ankle injury, also set a record on the uneven bars with a score of 9.850. She had a 9.725 on the balance beam, a 9.6 in the floor exercise and a 9.175 on vault. She led Nassau to a third-place finish, giving the county team its first medal in nine years.
"Bars and beam are my best and favorite events, and I hadn't been that excited to compete since the Olympic Trials," said Harris, who could start on a path to the Olympics again a year from now. "It was a lot of fun, and now I'm looking forward to nationals."
Harris, who will attend Arizona State University in the fall, qualified for the high school (seniors only) nationals in Orlando in May. She came within one-tenth of a point of sweeping all four events at the county championships on Feb. 17. She scored 9.8 on the uneven bars, 9.6 on floor exercise and vault, and 9.375 on the balance beam for a winning total of 38.375. "Nicole is very competitive and wanted to win, but her main goal for this season was to have fun and help the other members of our team, and that's exactly what she did," Muirhead said.
Two days before winning the county title, Harris helped the Lady Marines finish seventh at the Nassau team championships with their highest point total ever, 148.475. It was the first time in 13 seasons they had even qualified for the county meet.
