Mount Si gymnasts finish fourth at state
February 23, 2009
By Ryan Piersol
It was a fourth-place finish that may set the tone for even bigger things down the road.
Competing as a team for the first time at the Class 3A state gymnastics championships, Mount Si was able to finish fourth overall Feb. 20 at the Tacoma Dome. The Wildcats had 165.075 points, less than five behind state champion Columbia River.
Although it was a history-making moment for Mount Si, the finish seemed as if it had more to do with the future.
Kennedy Richmond competes at the Class 3A state championships.
“We were four points from first and that’s what we’re going to be aiming after. It’s going to be all about improving enough to make up those four points,” head coach Jessica Easthope said. “It was a great to compete as a team. We didn’t have a goal, we just wanted to place as high as a team as we could.”
For the second straight season, Georgia Reynolds was able to finish third in the all-around competition, notching a score of 37.375. Jessica Magill of Prairie nabbed the title there, scoring a 38.25. Mia Tabbutt of Capital was runner-up with a 37.6.
Mount Si’s best performance was in the floor competition, where its team score was good enough for second. The Wildcats also were third in the beam and fourth in both the vault and bars.
They were so good on the floor because of a pair of top-10 finishes, as Reynolds took fourth and Richmond was 10th. Reynolds also was third on the bars, fifth on the beam and 10th on the vault, while Richmond was ninth on the beam. Those top-10 finishes earned both Reynolds and Richmond spots in the finals the following day. Rachel Karavias, with a 12th-place finish on the beam, just missed qualifying.
In the finals competition on Feb. 21, Reynolds turned in a solid 9.425 on the bars to place fourth. The finish ended up being the best of the day for the Wildcats.
On the beam, Reynolds was sixth with a 9.025, while Richmond had an 8.750 for eighth. On the floor, Richmond was eighth with a 9.15 and Reynolds was 10th with an 8.7. Reynolds was also 10th on the vault with an 8.5
Both Richmond and Reynolds were better when their points counted toward the team standings during Friday’s round. With the exception of Reynolds’ performance on the bars, all of their Saturday scores were lower than Friday’s were.
“The girls really missed have their teammates around them for their support,” Easthope said. “That made the day’s round pretty tough.”
At the awards ceremony, it was also announced that Reynolds and teammate McKenna Little had earned academic all-state honors.
Mount Si is scheduled to return Reynolds, Richmond and Karavias to lead the way into next season.
Reach editor Ryan Piersol at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.
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