Highline went against Tyee in a gymnastics meet won by the Pirates, getting top places in all events -- bars, beam, floor and vault.

But the Totems’ loss, 120.2-99.1, was by a respectable score and, more than that fact, the loss came at the expense of “fun,” in action at the Mount Rainier gymnastics gymnasium Tuesday.

“They are not club girls, but we have fun,” said Gordan Kadric, coaching the Totems in gymnastics for his 12th season now. “I am not saying you need club girls to have fun. We just don’t have any.”

The Totems certainly have fun. The whole team, 10 girls, were all glommed together, front row, kneeling and back row, standing, for a picture together.

“Look at them on the floor now,” said Kadric, from Bosnia, who was smiling and pointing to the girls on the floor hugging together for the cameras.

Yes. It was a Kodak moment.

The Pirates got the moments on the victory stand, with no places of the top three for Tyee in the bars, beam, floor or vault. But, again, for Tyee it’s about “improving,” as Kadric said.

For that matter, it’s about that “I” word, too, for the Pirates.

The Pirates are not the most skilled team in the Seamount League, despite winning this meet versus the Totems.

“We are improving every week,” said Pirates coach Dawn Tessendore, who has been at Highline as long as Kadric has been at Tyee. “We’re not winning (dual meets). I would say 90 percent are walk-ons with no club experience at all.”

The winner of this meet, winning the most events, anyway, was Shelby Kesterke, a senior for the Pirates who took first place in the all-around with a 25.35 score. She was first on the bars with a 5.1, second on the beam (6.5) and first on the vault (7.8).

“She’s a really good leader, a captain on the team,” said Tessendore.

Kesterke had a good day, but she’s not focused on this stuff daily, like club gymnasts.

“I don’t normally focus on sports,” said Kesterke. “I just try my best.”

Kesterke did well, getting a first place though not a top finisher on the floor.

“I made a little part up and went with it,” said Kesterke. “I put a dance move in a chass’e.”

Maybe that’s why she didn’t win that event, even though she was top in another and high up in others.

One’s effort, by Al Jiggs, was not pass’e, not that any of the girls routines were that way. Just to say it cannot help but be interesting when one boy, and only one boy, is on the whole 20-something lot of Pirates gymnasts.

Jiggs has been on the Pirates’ team for all four years, this year being a senior and even a captain on the team, as well as on the cheer team.

“He truly does it for self,” said Tessandore. “His scores don’t count towards team totals or individual totals.”

Or any totals.

He’s just able to do what he likes to do, in a sport that was nixed back in the 1960s time frame for high school sports in Washington state.

“I want him to be able to do an exhibition at the (Seamount) league meet,” said Tessendore. “He’s earned it. If he was a girl, he would have went to league all four years.”

Jiggs enjoys this sport he’s been doing now for some time.

For the girls?

“No,” said Jiggs, smiling. “I have so much fun with them. I enjoy it because I love gymnastics.”

What’s best?

“Just coaching and being around with a bunch of people that enjoy doing the same thing I enjoy doing,” said Jiggs.

More “best”?

“They’ve accepted me so much,” said Jiggs. “The fact that I am a boy on a girls gymnastics team.”

Like a second family?

“Yeah,” said Jiggs. “And gymnastics has helped me in a lot of ways, with my confidence. Gymnastics challenges the way you think, the way you look at situations.”

And the way you act.

“Yeah,’ said Jiggs, who is a fan favorite among the girls, if you will.

“Yes, he keeps the team high spirited,” said Kesterke.

And let’s be realistic. This gymnastics sport is not an easy sport (ever tried doing a handstand and staying up for more than half a second?). Comparatively speaking, it’s hard to get up on a stage in a public speaking class and say things let alone be on a mat. Just there you are jumping around and doing flips and spins with consequences for your actions in front of a large crowd, like about 250 people at Mount Rainier watching on this night. You are vulnerable to missing music beats on floor routines, looking silly on the bars after not completing a spin, falling off the beam a time or two, or 10, etc. Gymnastics is tough stuff.

But will Jiggs miss it now that he is a senior and going off to San Francisco City College to begin general requirement studies in his next endeavor, film.

“They have the classes I need to get into what I want to do,” said Jiggs.

Be the next Steven Spielberg director type or maybe direct a good gymnastics movie since boxing, iceskating, basketball and football have been done on grand scales -- but not gymnastics.

“I want to do cinematography,” said Jiggs.

They have gymnastics in high school in California, so the thought has occurred, too, that he may do more than just film there.

“I might walk on, UCLA or Berkley” said Jiggs, whose time at SFCC will be to get basic classes preparing him for a film degree a couple years later on. “But I will never have the same coaches. I will miss that the most.”

Besides Keserke’s high marks for the Pirates, Yvette Preston, also a senior, tied for first on the floor (6.9) and was third on the beam (6.2).

“She is grace in motion,” said Tessendore. “She’s athletic but every movement is pretty. She’s been on top all year.”

This kind of “grace” refers not to her things given her in life, but to her floor routine number of bouncing around with chass’e and 90 degree and 180 degree and 360 degree spins and slips and somersaults. She does all those non-blas’e. So to speak.

Kadric’s girls work hard out there, too, as a captain, Sarah Melchior stated. But, speaking of beam, the girls for this school in Sea-Tac had their problems.

“I think everyone fell at least once,” said Melchior.

There was a thought of maybe one or two making it through a whole two minute or so routine. But Melchior made that thought pass.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “But we have fun. The girls did their best.”

Is your coach, Kadric, fun?

“Yeah,” Melchoir said. “He got out there in the handstand competition after the meet and got second place. He lets us have fun, and doesn’t force anything on us. He helps us improve on our elements.”

It’s tough, though. This area has it rough, for a lot of reasons.

“We don’t practice at gym,” said Kadric. “We have to go to Woodside (Elementary) and transportation is a problem. We have a bus and back to Tyee. But not to houses.”

Still others doing well were the Pirates’ Brigitta Sader winning the beam with a 6.7 and taking third on the bars (3.75). Keisha LeBlanc was second in the all-around in 21.9 and third in the vault in 7.2. Marina Davies was first on the floor in 6.9, with Preston’s score. Yorbanos Beyene tied LeBlanc for second in the all-around and was second on vault in 7.4 . Mackenzie Youngblood was second on bars with a 4.5.

“It truly is about challenging themselves and winning and losing against themselves,” said Tessendore. “Are they becoming a better person?”

Under Tessendore and Kadric, we know these girls, and one boy, are.