Mead, U-Hi state bound

Mead’s gymnastics program came into this season forced to rely on freshmen and sophomores, without a senior competing on the varsity.

University did have seniors, but as freshmen, they finished last in the GSL.

In an adversity-rich sport, those were just speed bumps.

Both teams qualified for the State 4A Tournament by finishing 1-2 at the East Regional gymnastics championships, held at Central Valley.

Mead’s score of 170.625, the first 170-plus mark posted in the GSL this season, was just enough to take home their third consecutive regional title, just one week after finishing second and scoring 165.825 to the Titans at the district meet.

Kayla McGahey, a senior from U-Hi, won her second consecutive regional all-around championship, scoring 36.85 with Mead’s Tonya Turner second at 36.45.

“We had a rough beam night and U-Hi was the better team (last week),” Mead head coach Amanda Workman said. “We had a talk. We counted seven falls last week and this week we didn’t have any. We talked about being mentally prepared and they met the challenge.”

Mead started on the beam and scored a meet-high 40.7, one of three apparatuses on which the Panthers led the pack.

Another difference in meets was the partial return of two-time all-leaguer Ashley Dotson, who missed districts with mono.

Dotson competed in three events and finished in the top 10 in all three – and Workman expects her to return at full strength for the state tournament.

She and Turner, a fellow junior, had carried the Panthers all year, but until districts, those freshmen and sophomores had not seen the pressure of a postseason meet.

“We were pretty cushioned throughout the season,” said Workman of a perfect regular season. “In terms of our scores, there wasn’t a whole lot of pressure on them to do well, so the freshmen didn’t really know what it was like and didn’t know how to work through that.”

In particular, freshman Taylor Gray improved her score by nearly two points, finishing sixth all-around for the Panthers.

For U-Hi, which scored 168.7, the leader was the same, but the cast has improved over the past couple years.

McGahey’s continued dominance of the uneven bars netted her a third consecutive regional bars title.

Her score of 9.35 was one of only two scores to receive 9s and only four that broke 8.5.

“She’s a great kid – 4.0 student too,” U-Hi co-coach Tracy Duncan said of McGahey. “It’s hard to get a 10.0 start value on the bars and that makes a huge difference for her.”

Taking a team to the state tournament was a far-fetched idea when Duncan and co-coach Karen Renner took over a last-place team in 2004.

“I had no idea the girls could pull this off,” Duncan said. “They really came together as a team to go from last place to going to state as a team in three seasons. It’s unbelievable, because it’s the same kids.”

In addition to the two teams qualifying for state, Mt. Spokane senior Sara Hanson and Central Valley senior Maya Morgan qualified as all-around competitors.

Hanson also won the floor exercise, the first time a Mt. Spokane gymnast has won an event at a regional meet.