Mount Si gymnastics makes history
February 20, 2013
Mount Si High School’s gymnastics team members shed tears of joy at the end of a long day Feb. 15 when the team earned third place at the state meet in Tacoma.
The team enjoyed a variety of scrapbook-worthy performances to achieve the best finish in the program’s history. The Wildcat team trailed only Kamiakin and Enumclaw in points.
Head coach Jessica Easthope called the result “the natural progression of a terrific season.
By Christy Trotto
Mount Si High School’s Hannah Richmond performs on uneven bars during the 2013 state gymnastics meet at the Tacoma Dome on Feb. 15. She set a personal best of 8.85 during the performance. The Wildcats finished third in state, the best-ever finish for the program.
“An exclamation point to a stellar season,” she added. “We were right on our highest averages, 169. We couldn’t be more happy with how the girls did today.”
Gymnasts’ wins continue on Senior Night
January 30, 2013
By Christy Trotto
Pauline Kaczmarek, an exchange student from France was among the gymnasts honored at Senior Night Jan. 24.
It was a Senior Night for everybody. For the four-year senior and for the three-month senior. For the busy star and the sidelined warrior.
It was also, almost, a record-breaking night for Mount Si High School’s gymnastics team. The Wildcats beat Mercer Island 170.900 to 158.350 Jan. 24, falling just shy of the single-meet record for points in school history of 171.05.
Season starts well for Wildcat gymnasts
December 19, 2012
As the days get colder, the Mount Si High School gymnasts continue to heat up, delivering impressive performances in all four disciplines.
“The girls are pumped,” head coach Jessica Easthope wrote in an email, “and showing improvements in every meet. Little by little, they are getting cleaner, trying to incorporate their higher-valued skills into their routines and get comfortable with them.”
The team, Easthope said, has 10 girls able to compete in any event.
Contributed
The Mount Si High School gymnastics team continues to be a force in the KingCo Conference, with strong showings against Sammamish, Lake Washington and Juanita to start the season. In the last meet before press time, they defeated the totems 160.9 to 149.25. Head coach Jessica Easthope said the Wildcat gymnasts are ‘pumped’ for a strong season and getting better every day, with 10 girls who can compete in any event on any given night.
On vault, Easthope highlighted the performance of Hailey Johnson and foreign exchange student Pauline Kaczmarek, a sophomore and senior, respectively.
Sidelined gymnast Jessica Trotto moves into coaching ranks
December 12, 2012
By Sebastian Moraga
Jessica Trotto, at left, watches as a fellow Mount Si High School student practices. Trotto, a longtime gymnast and a senior at MSHS, had to quit the sport due to injury and is now assistant coach for the junior varsity squad.
Mount Si High School gymnast Jessica Trotto stuck the landing when it came to keeping her word.
Sidelined twice with stress fractures in her back, she pledged almost two years ago to leave the sport she loved if she injured her back again.
Practicing floor moves in October, she felt a familiar tightness in her back. A doctor visit and an MRI later, she had the diagnosis she feared, two stress fractures in her L4 and L5 vertebra.
Mount Si High School gymnasts will go to state
February 16, 2012
By Christy Trotto Members of the Mount Si High School varsity gymnastics team pose after competing at the district championship at Sammamish High School in Bellevue. From left to right are Carissa Castagno, Lexi Swanson, Jenn Rogers, MacKenzie Brown, Hannah Richmond, Jessica Trotto, Elizabeth Holmes and Hailey Johnson.
The Mount Si High School gymnastics team will advance to the state competition at the Tacoma Dome after a No. 2 showing at districts Feb. 11.
Mount Si missed the top spot by only .15 points, which Coach Jessica Easthope described in an email as a “tough loss.”
Mount Si Gymnastics advances to districts
February 8, 2012
The Mount Si High School Gymnastics team is heading to the district competition next weekend after getting the top overall score at the KingCo 3A Gymnastics Championships Feb. 4.
Mount Si garnered a team score of 155.8 points out of 300, compared to Mercer Island’s second-place score of 150.525.
Both teams will advance to districts, the final qualifying event before the State Gymnastics Championships Feb. 18-19 at the Tacoma Dome.
By Michele Mihalovich The Mount Si High School Gymnastics team holds its first-place trophy at the KingCo Gymnastics Championship conference Feb. 4. From left are Mackenzie Brown, Hannah Richmond, Jenn Rogers, Carissa Castagno, Jessica Trotto, Lexi Swanson, Elizabeth Holmes and Hailey Johnson.
Coach Jessica Easthope said the floor category is typically the team’s strongest event, and that definitely was the case at Saturday’s tournament, held at Roosevelt High School in Seattle.
Four Mount Si girls placed in the top 10 positions on floor, with three Wildcats placing in the top three spots: Jenn Rogers scored 9.6 out of 10 points, Carissa Castagno scored 9.45 and MacKenzie Brown scored 9.25.
“We have strong tumbling paired with beautiful choreography that sets our floor routines apart from the other teams,” Easthope said.
She said she was particularly impressed with Brown’s performance because she had suffered an injury at the team’s last regular season meet.
Exchange students reach for new heights in gymnastics team
January 11, 2012
From Denmark and Italy, exchange students Tatjana Bertram and Caterina Zita landed in Snoqualmie. And they stuck the landing.
Bertram and Zita joined the Mount Si High School gymnastics team after never having tried gymnastics before.
Bertram, from Denmark, was a boxer, a swimmer and a handball player in her native country. Zita practiced ballet, sailing and skiing in Italy.
Both said they wanted to try something new.
By Sebastian Moraga Tatjana Bertram (left) and Caterina Zita are two of four exchange students in this year’s Mount Si High School gymnastics squad.
Both said this “something new” was harder than they thought it would be.
“You need a lot of muscle and you need to be in pretty good shape,” said Bertram, a senior who arrived in Snoqualmie Aug. 17.
Although new to the sport, both Bertram and Zita said they liked how the rest of the team welcomed them.
Mount Si gymnastics team set sights high
December 21, 2011
By Sebastian Moraga
a Coach Jessica Easthope talks to her gymnasts during a practice at Mount Si High School. The team looks poised for another run at a state crown. The state gymnastics championships are in February in Tacoma. By Sebastian Morag
It was the last five seasons, compressed into to 10 seconds.
After a set of reps on the beam, Mount Si High School gymnastics head coach Jessica Easthope gathered her Lycra-clad troops.
Mount Si gymnasts earn a 6th-place team finish at state meet
February 23, 2011
The Mount Si Wildcats’ gymnastics team finished sixth in team scores at the 2011 3A state tournament in Tacoma.
“We’re all really proud of it,” said gymnast Elizabeth Holmes. “It’s been such a hard year and we’ve been working really hard. Placing sixth was a good job.”
Senior Kennedy Richmond led the team with a fourth-place finish in floor and a 15th place finish in bars. Richmond was the only Mount Si gymnast who made it to individual finals, but Holmes did score a personal best on the floor prelims.
The gymnasts for Mount Si High School line up prior to their performance at the State Gymnastics Championship in Tacoma. By Christy Trotto
Richmond made it to State all four years of high school and finished fourth every year, she said.
“I would have liked to end higher but it was not in the cards,” she said with a smile.
Richmond arrived in Tacoma wanting to enjoy her final meet as a high school gymnast.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself,” she said prior to Feb. 19’s finals.
Wildcat head coach Jennifer Easthope agreed.
GYMNASTICS | Wildcats’ gymnastics earn state spot
February 15, 2011
For the third consecutive year, the Mount Si High School Wildcats gymnastics team earned a spot at state.
This time, the Wildcats missed earning a district crown by a half-point, but still returned from Sammamish High School satisfied with their performance.
“I thought we did really well,” said head coach Jessica Easthope. “I’m really happy with the result.
Mount Si finished second behind district champ Mercer Island.
Wildcat gymnast Carissa Castagno performs during the district tournament at Sammamish High. By Christy Trotto
Senior Kennedy Richmond took first place on floor and third on vault.
Freshman Carissa Castagno finished fourth on beam, earning her best beam score for the season.
Richmond also finished third in all-around scoring and Castagno came in ninth.
