It was a meet loss for Tyee, but positives still surfaced.

Hazen outscored Tyee 124.9-100.75 in one half of a dual gymnastics meet held at Mount Rainier on Tuesday, January 12.

For the Highlanders, coached by former Kennedy state champion gymnast Kim Merlich with Marcie Reinhardt, Becca Shure-Reinhardt led the way with a first-place all-around total of 28.4 on the strength of winning the vault (8.1), bars (6.0), beam (6.3) and floor (8.0).

Hazen captured the next two spots before Thuy-My Nguyen annexed fourth place for the Totems with a score of 21.8. Nguyen scored a 5.6 fourth place on the balance beam with a fifth place 3.6 on the uneven parallel bars. Stephanie Johnson’s 6.65 fifth place floor exercise propelled her to a 19.9 fifth place on the all-arounds. In sixth place came Sarah Melchior with 19.05 points. Cathy Jimenez notched a 6.8 fourth place on the floor exercise.

“This team has come a long way,” said Courtney Hitchcock, who coaches Tyee with Gordan Kadric. “Great progress has been made with a team that did not have lot of background in gymnastics. This team has given a lot of heart as competitors, and we’re mostly seniors.”

In the case of senior Cathy Jimenez, who placed fourth at 6.8 on the floor exercise for Tyee, this meet was the end of an exhausting day.

Prior to journeying to Des Moines for the gymnastics meet, Jimenez spent her daylight hours qualifying for state in DECA competiton held in Bellevue. In fact, half the Tyee team participated as well.

“Gymnastics has been pretty much the best experience of my high school career,” the four-year letter winner and three-year captain attested. “I was a freshman when I started and became a team captain the next year.”