An unheard sports story this season is the one of the Ballard High School gymastics team, who just posted their highest scores yet at the KingCo 4A meet, taking first with 156.7.

Still, Coach Stephanie Gundel said there's still a lot of room for improvement.

Maybe that's because that's what the girls have been doing all season. Improving.

In their first meet in November against veteran teams Newport and Bothell, Ballard lost by a wide margin, getting a team score of 148 to Bothell's 159.55 and Newport's 164.35. Gundel wrote that Ballard had a solid performance and that it showed Ballard was still a contender, having beaten Redmond (122.7).

In December, Ballard hosted Inglemoor, hoping for a little revenge since it was Inglemoor who nudged them out of District Championships last year, Gundel wrote. Showing improvement from their first meet, the Ballard girls showed up, outpacing Inglemoor 151.35 to 150.725.

From there, the score kept going up. In January, Ballard girls posted a respectable score of 153.85, getting third against a very tough Woodinville (169.1) and Bothell (161.85).

And even when their two top gymnasts were down, they still got first in a January meet on the Eastside, beating out Garfield (70.1), Eastlake (130.95) and Redmond (135.25). It got them a spot in the fourth place in KingCo.

Which, of course, brings us to yesterday, when Ballard posted their highest scores yet in a KingCo meet. Ballard will be traveling to Roosevelt on Friday, Jan. 25, 7 p.m.

Below are the stats from yesterday's game. Players to keep an eye out for are Lauren Lee and Clara Yardley, who consistently post top performing scores. However, the rest of the team has shown they can keep pace, too.

1. Ballard 156.7
2. Inglemoor 156.65
3. Skyline 143.15
4. Bellingham Schools 143.0
5. Eastlake 131.85

Vault
1. Alisa Kean, Inglemoor, 8.7
2. Madi Krussow, Bellingham, 8.6
3. Clara Yardley, Ballard, 8.5

Bars
1. Kira Olsen, Inglemoor, 7.8
2. Lauren Lee, Ballard, 7.7
3. Megan Barney Eastlake 7.2

Beam
1. Jackie Tabone, Inglemoor, 8.95
2. Kira Olsen, Inglemoor, 8.8
3. Lauren Lee, Ballard, 8.7

Floor
1. Rikki Ulrich, Skyline, 9.6
2. Clara Yardley, Ballard, 9.55
3T. Alisa Kean (Inglemoor), Jackie Tabone (Inglemoor), Madi Krussow, Bellingham, 9.25

All Around
1T. Rikki Ulrich (Skyline), Lauren Lee, Ballard, 33.45
3. Clara Yardley, Ballard, 32.75

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