Spartans have tough state meet

TACOMA - Three members of the Bainbridge Spartans gymnastics team advanced to the 2A/3A State Gymnastic Championships in Tacoma, and it was a final trip for two of Bainbridge’s best.

TACOMA – Three members of the Bainbridge Spartans gymnastics team advanced to the 2A/3A State Gymnastic Championships in Tacoma, and it was a final trip for two of Bainbridge’s best.

Sarah Rice and Miller Shor, both seniors on the team, were joined by freshman Emma Chee for the competition.

Spartan Coach Cindy Guy said two other members of the team, Juliana Hinkley and Alathea Pippinger, also made the trip as team managers.

Despite the challenge of competing early during the two-day meet, and having to watch and wait as scores came in for dozens of other top gymnasts, the state meet was a good experience for the veteran Spartans and the two newer members of the squad, Guy said.

“I was really proud of them,” Guy said.

Getting to state is always one of the biggest challenges of the season.

“As I’ve said before, the district meet is the hardest meet, and it’s so hard to qualify out of districts to state.

“We had a great district meet,” Guy said, but recalled how strong performances by gymnasts from Sammamish and Ballard made the test even tougher.

“It’s sort of like the icing on the cake,” she said of competing in the state championships.

In all-around, Rice finished with a score of 33.450.

On the vault, Shor earned an 8.20 during the first day, with Rice coming in with a. 8.575.

Chee tallied a 6.95 on bars, with Shor scoring 6.85 and Rice, 7.20, in the event.

On beam, Shor had a 7.80, while Rice scored an Rice 8.45 and Chee, 7.05.

On the floor exercise, Chee earned a score of 8.50 and Rice finished with a 9.225.

The Spartans’ had a team score of 78, which put BHS in 14th place.

“It was a tough competition. For the first half of the meet, the kids’ scores were holding up very well,” Guy said.

After the dinner break, the scores for Enumuclaw, Kamaikin, Sammamish and Holy Names were down, but soon rose to the top.

“The competition was really exciting,” Guy said.

“The kids handled the pressure well. Sarah stuck her beam routine, which is always a pleasure, and on floor, Emma and Sarah did a nice job. Sarah’s vault, and Millers — they hit their vaults but the scores just didn’t stay up.”