For everything there is a season, and Thursday night at Thomas Jefferson High School the season of gymnastics kicked into gear.

Often shrouded in mystery, but also dressed in eager anticipation, the first meet indicates the first baseline upon which athletes build upon as they continue translating practice skills into tangible scoring results.

On this cold night in December, the South Puget Sound exploits turned up the heat inside the Raider gym.

Kentlake’s Kayla Shira set up a torrid baseline to lead her Falcons to 161.3 points and the team title. Federal way scored 139.3 points to outscore third place Thomas Jefferson 139.3-137.5 while Kentwood closed out the scoring at 137.15.

Shira garnered gold on the vault (9.1), uneven parallel bars (8.7), balance beam (8.7) and the floor exercise (9.05) to bound away to first place in the all-around competition at 35.55. The Falcons flew to three out of the first four placings in the all-arounds and captured high team scores on each event.

The outstanding effort of the Federal Way Eagles was described by head coach Jamie Tough.

“I’m so proud of them,” she exclaimed. “We have so many new girls. I’m just...I don’t know what to say. We have so much more room to improve, but this was a good, solid base to start with. We know weak areas we need to clean up.”

Valerie Pham powered to a 30.55 fifth place for the Eagles in the all-around. Pham’s best individual finish was an 8.8 second place on the vault, just ahead of teammate Lydia Berger (8.7). Also aiding her high finish were a fourth on the bars at 6.9 and a sixth on the floor exercise (8.05).

“It was pretty fun,” Pham said. “It was a good experience to hang out with the team and cheer each other on.”

For her part, Berger was also gratified.

“We just came out and did what we could do,” stated Berger. “Our team kicks butt. We did absolutely amazing because we each work hard at every practice. Every girl has heart and passion.”

Taryn Paschke took eighth in the all-around at 29.45 with seventh places on the bars (6.65) and floor (7.8).

For the host Thomas Jefferson Raiders, Briana led in all-around scoring with a 30.25 seventh place. Adam captured fourth place ribbons on the vault (8.5) and the balance beam (8.3) to bolster her all-around finish.

Lexi Boring bounded to third place on the floor exercise (8.6) to claim the Raiders’ best individual placing while also earning seventh place on the vault.

Like Federal Way, Jefferson is getting newcomers adjusted to the level of competition.