The Ballard gymnastics team keeps going up and up. Five individuals have qualified for the District 2/4 meet at Sammamish High School this coming Saturday, Feb. 9: sophomore Lauren Lee, freshman Clara Yardley, sophomore Laila Lee qualified to the district in vault, bars, beam and all around. Junior Jaemi Salazar and sophomore Victoria O'Laughlin will compete on beam.

At the district meet, they'll be battling out for State against a lot of heavy competitors.

At the KingCo 4A meet on Feb. 2, Lee finished 8th on vault, 7th on bars, 9th on beam and 6th all around. Her fellow standout gymnast, Yardley, finished fourth on floor. Their scores got them into the district meet described above.

Overall the team score was 157.575, finishing 5th behind Woodinville (174.175), Newport (166.85), Bothell (163.4) and Inglemoor (162.075). Ballard's score was not enough for the whole team to be placed in districts, so the qualifying individuals will have to battle it out themselves and show their Beaver pride.

In a blog post on the Ballard gymnastics website, a shout-out was also given to two freshmen who didn't qualify for the district meet. "We were also impressed by our two Freshmen, Lily and Hannah, who ended their Season at KingCo this year but who showed such amazing growth and Ballard Pride."

The team had finished out their regular season 6-3, which Coach Stephanie Gundel said was "decent considering that the entire varsity team is comprised of freshmen, sophomores and one junior."

Go get 'em.

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