Bermuda's gymnasts battled against adversity to restore their coach's confidence in his girls at the CAC Games in El Salvador.

After a disappointing performance in the team competition where the Island placed fifth out of the six nations, they competed far better in the individual event.

Casey Lopes, Maria Darby and Mornay Piper all made it through to the final 24 in San Salvador, while Brittany Repose and Kalena Astwood missed out.

Darby hit three out of the four disciplines - beam, vault, bars and floor - whereas she only made two in the team competition. She was the team's top scorer, amassing 29,416 points (8,150 vault; 6,333 bars; 7,033 beam; and 7,900 floor).

"In the finals she was much more aggressive with her only error being on the beam where she got a bit out of control going for her handspring layout," said coach Walid Mustafa yesterday.

"She did her best vault to date at a regional Games as well as her best performance on both bars and floor. She is extremely motivated and is looking forward to more competitions."

Darby's team-mates Piper and Lopes finished 19th and 22nd respectively with Piper scoring 27, 866 (7,850 vault; 6,300 bars; 6,216 beam; and 7,500 floor) and Lopes 27,333 (7,250 vault; 5,800 bars; 6,933 beam; and 7,350 floor).

"Mornay had a frustrating team competition as she suffered two falls on the beam as well as two on the bars which is her favourite event," said Mustafa. "She pulled her day back together on the floor and vault to help the team.

"In the finals she was determined to show what she could do but once again we were bitten by the beam and she fell twice. However, she had a great day on her other three events."

Lopes had a mixed couple of days.

"On the beam on the first day she fell three times, whereas she only had one fall in the finals," Mustafa said. "She had a good vault in the team event but really went after it in the finals and over-rotated and fell.

"The floor was a good event for her in both competitions and on the bars - a new skill - she had a fall on both days."

The reason for Astwood not making the finals was down to a back injury she suffered when she fell from the high bar while readying herself for her release.

"Unfortunately, this cost her two days training and she was unable to compete in the all-around in the team competition due to the pain," said Mustafa. "She insisted on contributing in the other events, though, which were less painful."

Astwood contributed well where she could and actually recorded the best score among the Bermudians in the vault.

"Without her we would not have beaten (sixth placed) El Salvador," said her coach. "She felt like she couldn't let her team down and did everything in her power to fulfil her commitment as a team member."

Repose, the youngest member of the team, also played her part at the Games.

"She contributed to the team score on both the bars and the beam," said Mustafa. "We are very pleased with her results, considering it was her first big international event. She is extremely talented and we expect great things from her in the future."

Overall, Mustafa said he was happy with the performances.

"I was disheartened by our team competition from the first day," he said. "But I was very impressed with how the girls that competed kept their focus to return the next day and have much better performances.

"I was equally impressed with the way Kalena and Brittany supported their team-mates before and during the finals competition although they were only spectators."

Mustafa said he was proud of his girls and looked forward to them continuing to mature as high level competitors.