Mead gymnasts achieve area’s first state title

TACOMA – Mead gymnastics coach Laurie Chadwick was dazed but not at all confused Friday night after her Panthers became the first Spokane-area school to win a state gymnastics title since Shadle Park won a pre-WIAA “invitational” championship in 1970.

“I’m a little amazed,” Chadwick said after the Panthers edged out three talented squads in a tightly competitive 4A meet at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.

Mead’s best previous finish was second in 2007. How satisfying was this win?

“Huge,” Chadwick said, “because you never know when you come over here if the kids are going to perform because sometimes there’s a little intimidation factor here.

“The depth of how good kids are at the state meet is tremendous, so you look around and might feel a little scared. But our girls competed very well.”

Senior Victoria Moyer was Mead’s top performer in the all-around, placing eighth with a total of 36.975 points. Junior Cadie Pratt finished 12th (36.475) and Sara Benson came in 16th (35.075). The Panthers were the only squad of four teams to place three gymnasts in the top 16.

Mead finished with 179.25 points, followed by Woodinville, winner of four straight 4A titles between 2006 and 2010 (178.375), Mount Rainier, which featured all-around winner Baylee Hamilton (177.675), and defending champion Newport of Bellevue (173.775), which was without defending 4A all-around champion Kristine Wong, sidelined by a knee injury suffered Monday.

“We started really solidly on beam.” Chadwick said. “Then we went to floor and did not have a good floor routine. We went to bars and had to do our best ever on bars, and we did (45.15), and that put the score in our favor. We picked a good time to have our strongest night ever on bars.

“My kids are high school gymnasts and they don’t do club. I have one girl on my team who does club, and the rest are just high school kids who just work really, really, really hard and put time in during the summer to improve their skills, and that’s amazing to me.

3A/2A

University struggled with nerves and placed fourth (164.6 points) to trail champion Enumclaw (177.6), Columbia River (167.8) and Bainbridge (167.525). The fourth-place finish matches the Titans’ best previous showing at state.

Alana Norman of Shadle Park placed fifth in the all-around (37.225) and Courtney Bray of Mt. Spokane took sixth (37.15). Norman, the defending 3A/2A vault champion, qualified to compete in all four events during today’s individual finals. Bray will compete in three.

University sophomore Amy House posted a 9.525 on floor (tying for 10th place) and will compete individually today, the lone Titans gymnast to qualify.

“The girls did not have the best meet they’ve ever had,” U-Hi coach Tracy Duncan said. “They’re a very inexperienced team, but they still took fourth and I’m very proud of them. I just think this was a little overwhelming for them.

“We had a lot of falls and broken series on beam, so I think we had a lot of holding back,” said Duncan, who judged bars during the 4A meet.