By Anne-Marije Rook and Gwen Davis, UW News Lab student

Ballard High School hosted the KingCo 4A gymnastics championship over the weekend where nine of the best high school gymnastics teams in the state competed in one of the most anticipated meets of the season.

The spirit of the meet was telling. The event boasted some of the strongest performances of the year, with hundreds of passionate fans in the stands.

“This is exciting,” said Ballard's Molly Barnes on the morning of the competition. “We’ve been building up for this all year.”

For Barnes, a team co-captain and senior at Ballard, this was one of her last moments to shine in the BHS uniform as it was for five other BHS gymnasts.

The competition was stiff and with a score of 160.85, Ballard finished two points short of placing in the top three which means their season ends here.

Ballard's Taylor Stern had a great last meet placing first on vault and second in beam, floor, bars and all-around.

Newport won the championships with a score of 174.95, and will be advancing to the Sea-King District meet along with Woodinville, the four-time defending 4A state champion, and Bothell.

The three teams will compete in next Saturday’s Sea-King District meet at Sammamish.

With this, the Ballard gymnastics team wrapped up a solid season filled with rigorous training and many triumps.

“At this time, they have all figured out their routines and they are all pretty polished. It’s great to now get all of these schools together,” said Loka Murphy, athletic trainer at BHS.

“It was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to next year already," added Junior gymnast Maria Volks.

Team scores (top 3 will attend the district championship)
1. Newport 174.95
2. Woodinville 168.0
3. Bothell 162.85
4. Ballard 160.85

All-around
1. Kristine Wong, Newport, 37.85
2. Taylor Stern, Ballard, 37.775
3. Candace Ho, Newport, 37.25

Vault
1. Taylor Stern, Ballard, 9.5
2. Kristine Wong, Newport, 9.35
3. A.J. Bowers, Issaquah, 9.3.

Bars
1. Kristine Wong, Newport, 9.35
2. Taylor Stern, Ballard, 9.3
3. Candace Ho, Newport, 9.05

Beam
1. Kristine Wong, Newport, 9.35
2 (tie), Taylor Stern, Ballard, and Candace Ho, Newport, 9.225.

Floor
1. Kristine Wong, Newport, 9.8
2. Taylor Stern, Ballard, 9.75
3. Rose Kibala, Roosevelt, 9.725