By Chuck Mingori

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Highline girls’ gymnastics vaulted past fellow SPSL 2A competitors Evergreen and Tyee Wednesday as the Pirates wrapped up an undefeated regular season.

The Highline girls posted a high score of 132 to notch victories over Tyee (96) and host Evergreen (66). The Pirates finished on top of the SPSL 2A Sound standings and are now look forward to the upcoming league championships scheduled for Feb. 7 at Auburn Mountainview. Those who qualify will move on to district the following week.

“We’re healthy, we don’t have a lot of key injuries.  So we’re really fired up about going into league, really positive thinking we can make an impact there,” said Highline head gymnastics coach Kevin Tessandore.

Highline’s Courtney Blanchet was the top performer Wednesday with an all-around score of 27.5. She was followed by Pirate teammates Abby Sagmoen {27.3), Emma Grothaus (25.4) and Lexi Weaver {24.7). 

Tyee senior Elizabeth Lopez-Arriaga {23.3) captured fourth in the all-around for the Totems while teammate Trinh Le {20.25) placed fifth. Evergreen’s Valerie Tran {19.15) was the top gymnast for her team by finishing seventh overall. Tyee’s Melissa Bernal (17.05) and Zereen Gesmundo (16.95) rounded out the top nine all-around scoring.

Tyee head coach Alison Thomas was pleased with her team’s effort and accomplishments during Wednesday’s meet.  She said her gymnasts “went for new skills and really fought to do those skills their best. And we had a couple of people step up and complete routines that they’ve had some limited practice on. I was impressed to see the girls rally.”

Senior gymnasts were performing their last regular league meet Wednesday, and it also marked the conclusion of the dual meet season.

Evergreen head coach Alexandra Harper explained, “We’ve had a little bit of a rough season.”

She said that some of her gymnasts have had to drop out this year due to the difficulty of trying to balance practice with work, school and family life. But considering those factors, she said her team really performed well on Wednesday.

“They did a great job,” she said. “They kept their heads on. Those are some of the best scores I’ve seen from our team all season.”

Emotions were running high for the local high school gymnasts, especially the seniors, who were honored during pre-meet ceremonies. Highline was sending off five seniors at Wednesday’s competition.

“It’s sad to say good bye to them,” Tessandore said. “I get emotional, the girls make fun of me, but I have been doing this a long time.”

Tessandore is in his sixth season as Highline’s gymnastics coach, taking over for his wife who coached Highline for 15 years. Both the Tyee and Evergreen head coaches are in their third seasons. The Totems, under coach Thomas, have seen participation in team members increase each season under her direction.

“It takes a lot of practice and a lot of mental strength to recover if something doesn’t go perfect and just move on  to regain your focus,” she said, adding that in three years team members  have increased from six the first season to 12 this season.