Mead tunes up for district with GSL title

Mead wrapped up its second straight GSL gymnastics title Wednesday by scoring 166.075 points for an easy win in a four-team meet at Ferris.

Tonya Turner led the 9-0 Panthers, winning the all-around competition with a score of 35.675 and finishing first in the balance beam (9.3) and the vault (8.95).

Ashley Dotson and Taylor Gray also finished in the all-around top five for the Panthers, as Dotson won the floor exercise.

North Central’s Katie Sweatt was second all-around and won the uneven bars. Central Valley (7-2) finished second at the meet.

U-Hi (5-1) could finish second in the league with a win at the four-team meet at Lewis and Clark tonight. CV would then be third and Shadle Park (6-3) fourth.

The District 8 4A tournament will be Feb. 3 at CV, with the top four teams in the league the favorites to grab the top four spots into the Eastern Regional meet.

From there, the GSL will likely win the two bids into the state tournament.

Mead appears to have one of them wrapped up, being the only team to break the 165-point barrier, including a 169-point effort in early January.

U-Hi and CV have both hovered around 160 most of the year, with the Titans having a slight advantage in season scoring average.

Don’t count out Shadle, as the Highlanders have been to state four straight years. In their final regular-season meet, the Highlanders scored 159.95, more than eight points better than in any other meet.

Lakeside and NC, though neither will finish in the top five in the GSL, have a reasonable shot at a state berth.

For the postseason, they compete in one of two 3A/2A regional meets. Columbia River and Kennedy have taken that regional’s two spots to state three consecutive years, but Lakeside and NC’s scores have been comparable to Kennedy this season.