Raider gymnasts finish perfect, win SPSL North championship

By Casey Olson • January 28, 2010 6:13 pm
Thomas Jefferson's Madi Kellar won the all-around competition during Wednesday's All-City Gymnastics Meet at Decatur High School. Kellar led the Raiders to a perfect 17-0 record and the SPSL North Division title.
Thomas Jefferson's Madi Kellar won the all-around competition during Wednesday's All-City Gymnastics Meet at Decatur High School. Kellar led the Raiders to a perfect 17-0 record and the SPSL North Division title.

For the first time in the history of gymnastics at Thomas Jefferson High School, the Raiders finished the regular season unbeaten.

Jefferson (17-0) secured the South Puget Sound League North Division championship Wednesday by sweeping the Federal Way All-City Meet at Decatur High School. The Raiders won the four-team meet with a total of 168.45 points. Beamer finished second with 163.0, Federal Way was third with 148.5 and Decatur finished fourth with 147.4 points.

The Raiders were again led by Madi Kellar, who won the all-around competition at the All-City Meet with 36.65 points. Kellar was dominant in outdistancing second-place finisher, Cassie Peterson from Beamer. Peterson ended up with 35.90 total points.

Kellar won three of the four individual events Wednesday, including the uneven parallel bars with an 8.7, the floor exercise (9.25) and the balance beam with a 9.7. Kellar also finished third in the vault with a 9.0.

Beamer’s Sam West won the vault with a 9.5 and finished third in the all-around with 35.75.

Jefferson also got a strong performance from freshman Shelby Church, who finished second on both the floor exercise (9.1) and balance beam (9.5) and third on the bars (8.2).

The Federal Way Eagles were led by the all-around performance of Valarie Pham, who finished fourth overall with 33.15 points. Decatur’s Victoria Braun ended up sixth in the all-around with 31.65 points.

The gymnastics season continues at the SPSL Sub-District Meet at Kentwood High School on Feb. 6. The West Central District Meet will be Feb. 13 at Auburn Mountainview and the state meet will take place Feb. 19-20 inside the Tacoma Dome.