Mount Si’s gymnastics team made school history last Thursday night, Jan. 28, as the Wildcats finished the regular season undefeated for the first time in the program’s 11-year history.
Despite numerous struggles, especially on the beam, Mount Si easily won the four-team meet with Redmond, Interlake and Garfield, held at Mount Si High School with Redmond as the home team. The Wildcats took first with a 159.9 score, followed by the Mustangs’ 152.4, Bulldogs’ 132.75 and Saints’ 131.2.
Even though Mount Si won, Wildcat coach Jessica Easthope was well aware that it didn’t come easy.
“As a team, we were shaky. It wasn’t one of our greatest meets,” she said.
Mount Si swept all four event titles, with Georgia Reynolds winning the bars (9.15) and vault (8.65), Rachel Karavias taking the beam (9.1) and Kennedy Richmond grabbing the floor crown (9.35). Reynolds’ efforts on vault led a strong Wildcats performance, with three out of the top four finishers in the event being Mount Si competitors. In addition to the star Wildcat senior’s win, Richmond and Karavias tied for third with 8.4 scores.
Reynolds’ performance on bars also led a solid effort by Mount Si, with the Richmond sisters, Kennedy and Hannah, taking third and fourth respectively in the event. Junior Kennedy scored 7.5 while freshman Hannah pitched in a good 7.2 score on her routine.
For Reynolds, the event victories were important, since she was coming off of an injury in practice which resulted in her missing much of a Jan. 21 meet.
Reynolds said the approach to the meet was simple for her and her teammates.
“It was more just to have fun since this is our last home meet, so we just wanted to enjoy it and soak in the moment,” she said.
The beam, as previously mentioned, was a trouble spot for the Wildcats, with several gymnasts including Reynolds suffering falls, which result in .50 point deductions each time one occurs in a routine. This hurt the scores of those Mount Si gymnasts, including Reynolds, who would likely have won the event had she not fallen. Reynolds finished third with an 8.65.
The floor was another area where Mount Si struggled with the scores, but that may have been more a reflection of how solid competitors’ routines were overall than anything else. Karavias tied for 4th (8.5) in this event, with Reynolds (8.4) and Hannah Richmond (8.25) taking seventh and eighth respectively. Half a point separated second (8.55’s for Redmond’s Ally Garcia and Garfield’s Jessica Badgeley) from 10th (8.05 for Interlake’s Emily Cooper), underscoring how well everyone performed in that part of the meet.
Freshman Elizabeth Holmes scored a 7.8 on this event, and her efforts this season have been noteworthy. Holmes has stepped up and added some depth to the squad through her performances. She felt she could have done better, though.
“I think I put out most of my effort, but I still have more that I could have done,” Holmes said. However, the impact Holmes and other freshmen have had this season was not lost on Reynolds.
“We’ve seen them improve progressively. It’s really fun to watch them do better, and I think we can expect a really great team next year if they keep committed to it and just try their best,” she said.
Mount Si will be hosting the Kingco gymnastics meet on Saturday, Feb. 6. More information on this event is available at www.kingcoathletics.com.
