TACOMA - Kerrie Heckel of Mount Rainier gave it her best effort on Sat., Feb. 16, in the individual event finals of the state gymnastics championships held at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall before falling just short of a medal.

On Friday, Feb. 15, the Ram gymnast qualified to the finals of the floor exercise with a fourth place finish of 9.5. Saturday was just a step below as she scored a 9.45 to just miss the top eight medal level in a ninth place 9.45.

"I'm really proud of myself for making the finals. It wasn't my best today, but was still exciting today. There were a lot of great floor routines to watch. I'm done with gymnastics,but I might do some diving in college. I'm not sure where I'm going, yet. It's been fun to compete in high school gymnastics."

Britni Atwell of Heritage captured the gold on floor with a 9.7 score followed by Tia Thomas of Federal Way (9.625) who didn't start gymnastics until high school and Monica Church of Thomas Jefferson (9.56)

The top three on vault were Atwell (9.825), Carolyne Scmidt of Emerald Ridge (9.7) and Nicole Moss of Heritage (9.65).

On the uneven parallel bars, Moss led the way with 9.625. Cadie Pratt of Mead (9.475) and Atwell ((9.425) rounded out the top trio of place winners.

Candace Ho of Newport won the beam at 9.625 with Atwell close behind at 9.6, while Moss took the bronze medal with 9.55.