Mount Si’s gymnastics team showed why they are a possible state title contender on Thursday, Dec. 3, doing something that even three years ago seemed unthinkable: beating Newport.
The Wildcats narrowly defeated the Knights, 156.2 to 154.5, to take the team title at the season-opening meet which was held at Newport High School in Bellevue.
“I think they did a stellar job,” Wildcat coach Jessica Easthope said. “They really came together and put 100 percent effort and I think got the jitters out of the way for the first meet.”
Mount Si’s big three of Rachel Karavias, Kennedy Richmond and Georgia Reynolds had solid nights, keying the Wildcat win. Reynolds’ 34.2 all-around score won the senior the all-around title, she won both the vault and bars (8.6) events, and finished second (8.9) on the beam. Reynolds struggled on the floor, but it did not matter in the end.
Richmond’s 9.1 on the floor was good for second place, and the junior finished second (8.6) as well on the beam. She finished third on the vault (8.5) and fourth on the bars (7.1). Her efforts earned her third in the all-around with a score of 33.3. Karavias was right behind Richmond in the all around with a 32.2. The senior finished second on the bars (7.2) and took a fourth on the vault (8.5) and fifths in the floor (8.4) and beam (8.1).
Hannah Richmond, a freshman and Kennedy’s younger sister, had solid scores on both the vault (8.2) and bars (6.5). Richmond was happy with how things went in her first high school meet.
“I was really nervous out there because I (did) club for a really long time and haven’t competed in two years,” the freshman said. “But I think it went pretty good and the team did really well.”
Jessica Trotto also had a nice score on the vault (8.3), helping the Mount Si efforts.
Wildcat fans should be excited about the team’s large turnout this year. It was quite evident when the teams came out for the opening introductions. The Wildcats had by far the largest group — even more than Newport, which for many years has been a powerhouse program. There is plenty of excitement about the future from Mount Si’s perspective.
“We have close to 20 freshmen, so if that’s an indicator of how can we build our team in the future, I think we’re looking pretty good,” Easthope said.
“It means the program is growing and hopefully it gets better in the years to come,” Karavias added.
With so many freshmen, many of them won’t be able to compete consistently during the season due to limits on the number of girls who can compete in an event during a meet. That said, Karavias is hoping those girls will learn a lot by just watching with their teammates.
“A lot of those girls are underclassmen and if they return (next year), they realize that hard work really will get them where they want to be,” the senior co-captain said. “If they want to compete, they just have to try hard, show up, practice and dedicate themselves.”
Skyline and Interlake also competed in the meet, with the Spartans finishing third as a team and Saints grabbing the fourth place spot.
