BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Writer

AUBURN - As the postseason of gymnastics beckons, the Mount Rainier girl gymnasts honed their skills and made final preparations on their routines in the final South Puget Sound League regular season meet at Auburn Riverside High School on Wed., Jan.28.

Mt. Rainier scored 152.35 to outdistance Auburn Riverside (150.8), Auburn Mountainview (149.35) and Auburn (118.1).

For the Rams, a victory was nice, but the prime purpose was to determine what needed attention before the Feb. 7 sub-district meet at Mount Rainier High School.

"This was our lowest score of the season," said Ram head coach Ali Kestle. "We're missing Regan Hunt due to injury, but we have a lot of work still to do, especially on the bars. The scoring was different, tonight, but it was good for a reality check (on where the team really is)."

MRHS had been scoring regularly in the 160's in recent weeks.

As usual, Ava Welch led the way for Mt. Rainier.

Welch finished third in the all-around with a score of 33.35 behind Kayla Porter of Auburn Mountainview (37.1) and Tayler Johnston of Auburn Riverside (34.05).

Welch took first place on the floor exercise at 9.35 while adding a second place on the vault with 9.1, third on the balance at 8.5 plus a fifth place score of 6.4 on the uneven parallel bars.

Although declaring herself ready to take on sub-district, Welch also admitted to competing with an injury and needing fine tuning, especially on the bars.

"I though I had a good meet," she said. "The floor was fine, but my high ankle sprain hurts. Other than toning up on the bars, I'm ready. Our three managers, Alex, Ryan and Elyjah are awesome and inspirational."

Another Mt. Rainier athlete, Hailey Sagmoen, earned a fourth place ribbon in the AA by compiling a score of 32.45. Sagmoen captured an outright third place on the vault (8.25) as she also gained a third place tie on the floor (9.1) and a third place tie on the bars (7.1). A sixth place balance beam score of 8.0 rounded out her four-event total.

Sonya Harkness accumulated 30.75 points to earn sixth place on the AA. Her best individual event finish was fourth place tie on the vault at 8.15.

Porter of AM swept first places on the vault (9.3), bars (9.2) and beam (9.5) as the main cogs of her top all-around performance.