Molly Hoss’ smile said it all.

The Lawrence High senior stuck her landing off the balance beam at Wednesday’s LHS quadrangular, capping a first-place routine that had Hoss beaming.

She nailed her jumps, executed a couple of rolls and when she came out of her landing, she grinned, hugged Lions coach Kathy Johnson and was rewarded with a 9.3 score, good for first place.

“You just think, ‘I spent all that time and all that work to get this far,’ and when you hit it right on, you just feel great,” Hoss said.

Johnson shared in Hoss’s exuberance, mostly because a great routine doesn’t happen too often. When it does, instead of nitpicking, you enjoy it.

“It is tough,” Johnson said. “You get up there, and you’re on a 4-inch bar and all these people are watching you. When you can do that without wobbles and bobbles it makes you feel good as a gymnast and a coach.”

Hoss tied for third in the floor exercise and finished third in the all-around. Along with sophomore Nicole Jones, who finished tied for sixth, the Lions were second at the quad, just .2 points behind Shawnee Mission East, 100.8 to 100.6.

Free State High, behind junior Lacey Baxter’s fourth-place finish in the all-around, was third, eight points ahead of fourth-place Shawnee Mission South.

Freshman Karen Kroge goes through her routine for Free State High on the balance beam during a gymnastics quadrangular. Shawnee Mission East won the meet Wednesday at Lawrence High, followed by the Lions and Firebirds.

Baxter was one of four gymnasts to place in every event, along with Hoss, South’s Krystal Hanna, who finished second, and the winner, East’s Elisa Brown.

Baxter nearly won the floor exercise, finishing just .2 points behind Brown. Though she didn’t have the same reaction Hoss did after the beam, she knew she had a good routine.

“It depends on the day,” Baxter said. “Some days you’re really on, some days you get really nervous in an event and just blow it.”

She nearly did that on the beam when she fell after attempting a double backward flip. She got back on and still finished tied for fourth.

“When I fell, I was pretty mad,” Baxter said. “My difficulty on the beam is high, so if I would’ve made that, it would’ve bumped up my score.”

Hoss was riding high after her beam routine, but faltered slightly in her floor routine. She executed everything soundly, but was penalized for not covering all the requirements.

“I don’t have a twist in my routine, so it takes me down a couple tenths,” Hoss said. “Usually I can pull it off, but not tonight.”

The lack of a twist may have been the difference in the final team score, but it’s tough to pin that on Hoss. Still, Johnson said they’ll work on improving everything until the LHS All-Around Invitational on Monday. It features 14 schools in the Kansas City metro area, and without great routines, it’ll be tough for LHS or FSHS to score well.

“Those little things make a difference,” Johnson said. “Or when you fall off the balance beam, it’s half a point. You’re always striving to improve that.”