Mead senior Jenna Schlosser captures three State 4A titles in her final gymnastics event

 TACOMA – Every weekend should be this good for Jenna Schlosser.

On Friday, the senior from Mead, won the State 4A gymnastics all-around title; on Saturday she added two more first-place medals to her haul, posting the top 4A scores on vault (9.725) and beam (9.525) in the state Individual Event Championships at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.

Schlosser, competing in what she promises is her last gymnastics competition, also placed third on floor (9.625) and, due to a fall in an otherwise stellar routine, seventh on beam (9.05). She won the 4A floor title in 2014.

 McKinzie Carter of Central Valley placed second in the 4A beam competition, barely getting edged by Anna Olsen of Skyline (Issaquah), 9.325 to 9.3. Carter also finished seventh on floor (9.475).

Jade Anderson of Mt. Spokane qualified for three 3A/2A events. She finished tied for sixth on floor (9.4), 10th on vault (9.05) and 15th on bars (8.3).

Teammate Reigan Kampmann tied for ninth on bars (8.95) and 10th on floor (9.325).

Schlosser, who says she has wearied of the strains gymnastics puts on her body, started strong on her first event, vault, and despite her fall on beam maintained that momentum throughout the meet.

“Floor was my last event ever,” she said. “I left it all out there. It was pretty fun.”

Schlosser was pleased with her vault, a challenging pike Yurchenko, where after a sprint toward the vault a gymnast plants her hands on the runway, performs a roundoff (a cartwheel, in essence) onto a springboard, initiates a back handspring to the vault, then blocks (pushes off) into a twisting backflip – all within a few seconds.

“I kept my legs straight and I had good form off the table,” she said. “I thought, ‘Oh, wow. That’s pretty good.’ I was pretty excited for the rest of the meet after that.”

She is done with gymnastics for good, she says, and is looking forward to the start of track practice a week from Monday. She will focus on the triple jump after placing ninth in that event at last year’s State 4A meet.

How does gymnastics translate into success in triple jumping?

“Flexibility, coordination, leg strength, running fast,” Schlosser said. “Track is just something new, and trying something I’ve never tried before is really fun.”

Mead coach Laurie Chadwick says some of the fun will go out of her team’s training with Schlosser gone.

“We’ll miss her a lot,” Chadwick said. “She’s got great spirit, and we just enjoy having her on the team. There’s going to be a hole without her there next year.”

Tia Thomas of Federal Way won the 4A floor title (9.7).

In 3A/2A, Kiya Bjorge of Southridge won on bars (9.55) and floor (9.7). Elena Fowler of Seattle’s Holy Names won on vault (9.7) and Kayla Porter of Auburn Mountainview took beam (9.7).