By Gerardo Bolong
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

TACOMA - Local athletes gave their best, but were unable to qualify for the Sat., Feb. 21, individual events finals after Fri, Feb. 20 performances at the 2015 3A/2A/1A Washington state gymnastics championships in the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.

Try as they might, the Highline High School trio of Katie Gatto, Tanjinique Ruffin and Lydia Mehbrahtom was unable to crack the top 15 for Saturday action.

All three were special qualifiers from bi-district on the vault while Gatto also qualified on the balance beam.

Top finalist qualifiers on the vault were 1T - Nykaela Dodson of Sammamish and Elena Fowler of Holy Names (9.625), 3 - Kiya Bjorge of Southridge (9.55).

On the uneven parallel bars, the top three qualifiers were Kayla Porter of Auburn Mountainview (9.6), Dodson (9.55) and Bjorge (9.4).

The balance beam featured Porter (9.45), Elizabeth Winstead of Kamiakin (9.375) and Dodson plus Enumclaw's Maddison Ward (9.3).

Floor exercise showcased Bjorge (9.7 ), Dodson (9.65) and Porter (9.6).

Dodson took the all-around title with 38.125.

In team competition, Kamiakin successfully defended its team title with 174.65 points ahead of Enumclaw (172.575), Holy names (168.825) and Sammamish (162.725).