Larsen Leads Ferris To Title

Region IV gymnastics

All week, Gail Larsen had been looking forward to performing her regional floor exercise routine on a spring floor.

All season, she had competed on wrestling mats.

The spring floor, with foam squares and a carpet-like covering, was borrowed from Spokane Elite Gymnastics.

That made it even sweeter for the Ferris High senior. It was the same floor she had used hundreds of times in her club gymnastics days.

Larsen was obviously comfortable. She scored a season-best 9.6 on the floor en route to the all-around victory in Saturday’s Region IV 4A meet at University High.

And her effort helped the third-ranked Saxons defeat fourth-ranked Central Valley 174.325 to 172.90 to earn the region’s lone team berth to the State 4A meet Friday and Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.

Joining Ferris at state will be CV junior Emily Roberts, the top all-around finisher not from the winning team and the top six individuals in each event not from Ferris.

Larsen was impressive in the other events, too, and finished with 37.375 points.

She won the bars with a 9.575 and the vault with an 8.9 and her 9.3 on beam was good for second place.

But the floor performance was most exciting.

“It was kind of my home floor,” said Larsen, in her first season competing for the high school team. “I was able to do my tumbling passes more comfortably. It was just easier all around.”

Roberts agreed. Roberts advanced to the all-around competition in the state meet by finishing second to Larsen Saturday with a 36.70 score.

She has been hindered by a severely sprained right ankle. But the spring floor made for a little softer landing, causing less stress on the injury. She scored a 9.4 after a frustrating 8.5 a week ago in the district meet.

Roberts was strong while winning on the balance beam. She scored a 9.4.

“I think it ended up about how they have been ending up,” said Bears coach Kim Brunelle. “The kids who needed to step up pretty much did.”

Bears senior Shannon Irving, who usually finishes in the top five on her team, broke her toe on the beam.

North Central’s Amber Baines and U-Hi’s Alisa Brandle also had bad luck on beam. The sophomores, both state finalists last season, each fell twice and neither qualified.

“It’s a shock, really devastating,” said Titans coach Stacey Heaton. “I’ve never seen Alisa fall twice on beam. It’s completely out of the ordinary.”

Baines and Brandle both qualified for state in other events. Baines will compete in vault, bars and floor and Brandle made it in vault and floor.

CV sophomore Karlee Poirier placed third in the all-around and will do three events at state - bars, beam and floor.

Two-event qualifiers are Shadle Park freshman Leah Borg (beam, floor), CV freshman Amy Snyder (vault, bars) and University freshman Marci Hulbert (vault, bars).

It was the first regional title for Ferris, which won its first Greater Spokane League title in 20 years.

“I’m not the coach of the year, but they’re definitely the team of the year,” winning coach Bill Christianson said. “With the GSL, district and regional title, and throw in state academic champion for the third straight year (3.73 team GPA), and it’s got to be a dream season for them.”