FEDERAL WAY - It was time for the Mount Rainier High School gymnastic team to raise the bar to where no Ram team has gone before.
Leaping and swinging to new heights, the surging Rams posted a school record team score of 169.95 points in a strong second place behind the host Todd Beamer Titans (170.75) in an SPSL 4A four-team meet on Wednesday, January 4, at the Beamer gym, with Kentlake placing third at 155.85 and Capital (West Olympia) landing in fourth at 149.95.
"What we got was really good," said Mount Rainier head coach Ali Kestle. "Everyone improved out of the holiday practices. Generally, we've been improving as the season goes along. State is our goal and we have some more additions to improve for even higher possibilities."
The Rams bested the other squads on the vault and beam, while the Titans held sway on the bars and floor exercise. Beamer's 38.1- 36.6 advantage against Mount Rainier on the beam proved to be the key difference between first and second place.
Senior Baylee Hamilton won the all-around title with 37.35 points for the Rams to pace some powerful performances. In her evening events, Hamilton swung to a 9.1 top spot on the uneven parallel bars while reaching a 9.4 tie for first on the vault. An additional event-leading achievement of 9.2 on the balance beam coupled with a third place score of 9.65 on the floor completed her cumulative scoring.
"I just concentrated on getting through all the events without getting hurt," Hamilton observed. "I was just having fun."
Kerrie Heckel's best individual event was a fifth place 9.55 tie on the floor, leading to her 34.55 fifth place all-around total. Ava Welch tied for the top spot with Heckel on the vault as well as deadlocking another performer for a second place 9.0 on the beam on her way to an eighth place total of 33.8 in the all around.
Cheyenne Gavino danced to a 9.75 second place on the vault in an outstanding individual event presentation.
After finishing second in last season's state team competition, this night's meet- winning Titans are poised to return to the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.
Last season's all- around state third place placer Sam West bolstered Todd Beamer in a second place all-around placing of 36.9.
West danced to a 9.8 first place placing on the floor to highlight a night that also featured her grabbing a runner up spot on the bars (8.9) and a tie for second on the beam (9.0). Vaulting to a fifth place 9.2 settled her into the high all-around ranking.
"We started out roughly," she said about the season. "Now, we're getting better. We all did pretty well except for a couple misses and falls."
Beamer managed two other top 10 all-around exhibitions.
Coming in at the third position was Leah Freeborn with a trio of top five individual event finishes that propelled her to third place while accumulating 35.55 points. Freeborn fired up to an 8.1 third spot on the bars, a 9.25 fourth place on the vault and a 9.55 fifth place tie with Heckel on the floor.
Sixth place with a point total of 34.3 was sophomore Kasey Johnson, who bounded to a 9.6 fourth position on the floor with an 8.8 fifth place on the beam.
Todd Beamer has also improved gradually since the season opener and is prepared for the rigors leading to another state team positioning.
"This was not our top score, but we're definitely coming along well," said a confident Titan head coach Gina Foster. "We're working on some additional skills and are being consistent. The girls did well and this was a great meet. I'm seeing improvement. I feel like the girls are working really hard."
Katie Steckler led Kentlake by placing fourth in the all-around at 35.05 as Capital's Keira Lathrop was rated sixth in a 34.3.