The 2007 Lawrence High Gymnastics team poses with its third-place trophy shortly after the state competition in Hutchinson last weekend. Pictured above, from left to right, are: LHS coach Kathy Johnson, Mallory West, Caitlin Haig, Maria Carvajal, Paulina Rodriguez, Sarah Athey, Leighann Krische, Rachel Rasumussen and assistant coach Sindra Schueler.

Moments after turning in their best team score of the season at the state meet in Hutchinson, the Free State gymnasts gather for a photograph. Pictured above, from left to right, are: assistant coach Sindra Schueler, Drue Davis, Paige Trimble, Kelcy Bowers, Tawney Carter, Amelia Firns-Hubert and FSHS coach Kathy Johnson.

A few days before last Saturday’s state gymnastics meet in Hutchinson, several members of the Lawrence and Free State High squads began fine-tuning a few new skills.

The point was to tighten and strengthen their routines so much that their degrees of difficulty would grow higher and – assuming they pulled them off – their scores would be better in the end.

The result was the two best team scores of the season by the two local teams, with LHS finishing in third with a score of 105.025 and Free State in seventh with a 99.75.

LHS senior Mallory West, who captured her third all-around state title during a remarkable four-year career, threw a couple of new wrinkles into her routine on the uneven bars and watched the risk pay off in the form of a dominating first-place performance. West’s best routine on the bars netted her a 9.5. Her average for the event was a 9.45. The runner-up turned in a 9.125.

“I started working on (the new routine) at the first practice of the year,” West said. “But I hadn’t done it in competition until state. It was so exciting to finally do it in a competition, and state’s what it’s all about.”

Nobody on either team knew that as well as West. West leave Lawrence High’s gymnastics program as a three-time state champion in the all-around competition, winning as a freshman, sophomore and senior.

“It was an amazing day,” West said. “I couldn’t have picked a better way to end my career. It was everything. I was happy and excited, surprised that I actually pulled it off and sad it was the last meet of my career.”

West’s emotions weren’t reserved for her own performance, though. She also was moved by the way her teammates stepped up to help lead LHS to a third-place trophy and season-high team score.

“That was awesome,” West said. “Third place was huge for LHS. We lost seniors from last year and didn’t know what to expect this year. But I’m really proud of how hard the girls worked all year and especially at state. We knew everyone had to step it up to a different level, and we did that.”

Coach Kathy Johnson, who guides both teams throughout the year, agreed with West and said last weekend’s results were almost as sweet as they would have been if the teams had finished first and second because of the amount of time and effort the girls put into it.

“With the three state championships that LHS had won recently, they had a very deep and very talented team,” Johnson said. This team is very talented, but its overall skill level and depth isn’t quite what those other teams had. It just made the whole thing really special because the girls worked so hard to get what they got.”

LHS and FSHS gymnasts delivered eight top-10 performances during last weekend’s four individual events. West recorded four of them, while Firebirds Drue Davis (fourth in the floor routine) and Amelia Firns-Hubert (eighth, bars) each added one and LHS’s Maria Carvajal and Leighann Krische placed ninth and 10th, respectively in the balance beam.

Davis, the top city finisher in the floor routine, scored a 9.225 and nearly placed in the top 10 in the other events, as well. The result for her was a ninth-place finish in the all-around standings and a memorable afternoon. Davis, like West, also threw in a couple of new skills to bolster her score.

“When it’s your last meet and the injury factor isn’t as high, you’re just like, ‘You might as well go for it,'” Davis said. “I had a lot of fun the whole day and this whole season. As soon as state was over, we were all really sad, but also so excited for next year.”

With good reason.

Free State expects to return everyone from this year’s squad and could possibly add a couple of gymnasts along the way.

“Free State is very young,” Johnson said. “If the core of this team comes back and builds on what they started this year, they have the potential to be a really strong team next year.”

As for Lawrence High, the future depends heavily on what this year’s underclassmen learned from this year’s two seniors.

“Losing Mallory (West) is significant,” Johnson said. “And Leighann (Krische) has been a strong contributor for us. So LHS is going to have a new make-up, but they’ll have the talent to succeed if they just continue to work hard.”

Fortunately for both teams, the girls who will return next season learned first hand last weekend what working hard can bring.

Overall, Johnson was pleased with her team’s poise, concentration and ability to have fun under pressure.

“I’m really proud of how they finished,” she said. “There’s a lot of pressure on the girls at state. There’s not three outs like in baseball or four downs like in football. You get one chance to do it well, and they all did. It was really a lot of fun to see, and it was a great way to end the season.”