I don't like this kind of forced drama. Like, sure, life gets in the way sometimes. It doesn't get in the way all the time at such inconvenient moments!
I also hate how the author just threw the individual competition away. I'm pretty sure that irl, colleges would care quite a lot about those results in determining recommendations. Leading a team is great, but you're not going to show up your 1st year and lead a team--you're going to be an individual helping your team win! Megu should've been improving as an individual and this is a sign that she hasn't--wasn't there only one person in the prefecture that could beat her last tournament, and wasn't it the gorilla? Top 4 in the prefecture isn't bad or anything but as far as college admissions for athletics go, I don't see why it'd get you into a Tokyo school from Kanagawa.