Two gymnasts from the Bainbridge Spartan squad have qualified for this week’s 3A Washington State Gymnastics Championships.
Bainbridge’s Katharine Cooper will compete in all four events — uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise and vault. Mariko Ronan also qualified for the trip to State, on bars and beam.
But in a bad twist of luck, Ronan was injured this past weekend during a club meet and won’t be able to compete in the state tourney.
She will still be there to cheer for Cooper from the sidelines, however.
Ronan’s injuries were described as bad sprains to both ankles.
“The timing is very unfortunate,” said Spartan Coach Katherine Rochon.
Cooper should be competitive across the spectrum — vault, beam, bars, and floor — Rochon said.
“I feel really good; I think she has the potential to make finals in all four events. She’s in a really good spot,” Rochon said.
The championship tournament will be hosted by Sammamish High School in Bellevue, and runs Thursday through Saturday, though Saturday’s competition will feature athletes from 4A schools.
Cooper and Ronan advanced out of the 2A/3A District 2 gymnastics meet on Saturday, Feb. 15 at Ballard High School.
Cooper placed sixth overall. She tied for eighth place on the vault with a score of 9.300, and was 10th on bars with a score of 9.325.
On beam, Cooper finished in the 11th spot (9.100) and on floor, placed 10th (9.425). Her All-around score was 37.150.
Ronan claimed 19th overall in District 2 competition. She placed 39th on the vault (8.175), 19th on bars (8.425), tied for 21st on beam (8.850) and finished in a tie for fifth place on floor (9.500). Her All-around score was 34.950.
The Spartans sent nine other gymnasts to Districts: Keagan Daniels, Kareese Pippinger, Sydney Johnson, Nicole Houmes, Elizabeth Pickle, Eliza Montgomery, Bianca Daniels, Kaitlyn Alexander, and Catharine Fleming.
Daniels claimed 35th place. She tied for 40th on the vault (8.150), tied for 35th on bars (7.050), was 54th on beam (7.250), and tied for 54th place on floor (8.050). Her All-around score was 30.500.
Pippinger was right behind, securing 36th place for BHS. She also tied for 40th on the vault (8.150), came in at 52nd on bars (5.950), tied for 50th place on beam (7.500), and came in a tie for 51st on floor (8.400). Pippinger finished with an all-around score of 30.000.
Johnson ended her season with 48th place at Districts. On bars, she tied for 35th place, with a score of 7.050. Her best showing was on beam, where she scored an 8.700 and tied for 27th place. She was 50th on floor, with a score of 8.475. Her All-around total was 24.225.
Houmes placed 55th at the meet. She tied for 56th on the vault (7.800), was 39th on bars (6.650), was 56th on beam (7.150), and had an all-around score of 21.600.
Pickle placed 92nd for the Spartans, along with Montgomery, Daniels, Alexander and Fleming from the Bainbridge team.
The Spartans entered district competition a bit banged up from injuries, but still performed well.
“It was a really tough meet. It’s probably the toughest district meet in the state,” Rochon said.
“They did really good with that; knowing the pressure was on. They handled themselves really well. They kind of did what I thought they would do,” the Spartan coach said.
At this week’s state meet, Cooper and Ronan were scheduled to compete during Session 2 Thursday evening.
They will start off on uneven bars, then move to balance beam, floor exercise, then vault.
The finals will start Friday morning, with the march-in at 10:45 a.m. and competition getting underway at 11 a.m. The awards ceremony is planned for 1 p.m.
