By CASEY OLSON, The Mirror
The Todd Beamer High School gymnastics team, whose saying this year was “Are we there yet?” is finally there.
For the first time in the history of the school, the Beamer gymnastics team qualified for the Class 4A State Championships. The Titans finished up in second place at Saturday’s West Central/Southwest District IV championships.
Puyallup won the team title at Auburn Mountainview High School with 172.725 points and Beamer finished second with 167.875. The top-two teams qualified for the state championships, which will be Friday and Saturday inside the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.
The Titans were led by senior Kaylyn Borden, who will be making her fourth trip to the Class 4A State Gymnastics Championships inside the Tacoma Dome.
Borden finished up in second place in the all-around competition at Saturday’s district meet in Auburn.
Borden ended up with 36.75 total points, which was just .25 less than first-place Brianna Howe from Emerald Ridge. Borden finished third on the uneven parallel bars with 36.75 points, second on the balance beam (9.525), fourth on the floor exercise (9.375) and second on the vault (9.025).
After competing at state as a freshman, Borden finished up in 18th place in the all-around as a sophomore and was 30th last year in Tacoma.
The Titans also got a huge contribution from freshman Cassie Peterson at the West Central/Southwest District Meet. Peterson finished up in seventh place in the all around and also won the vault with an impressive score of 9.125.
Joining Borden and Peterson on the Titans’ roster are Jessica Freeborn, Jessalyn Coleman, Kaily Page, Laura Schrader, Bailey Patterson, Emma Cortez, Dayah Chrisman, Katie Peterson and Syria Selm.
The Thomas Jefferson Raiders finished fifth as a team with 161.775 points.
The Class 4A State Gymnastics Meet will get underway at 6:30 p.m. Friday night with team finals. The meet will start back up Saturday at noon with individual event finals.
Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com
