During the week leading up to the Sunflower League meet Saturday, both of the Lawrence High and Free State gymnastics teams knew they had to step up their game if they were going to compete with top teams.

And they did just that.

Facing tougher competition in a 11-team meet at LHS, gymnasts from both schools responded by posting higher scores with new additions to their already sound routines.

“I think we did a good job,” LHS and FSHS coach Brooke Santee said. “We started adding stuff in this week. A lot of girls added stuff in that made their scores go up, so that’s good. We still have some cleaning up to do.”

The results may not have completely shown on the scoreboard as both teams posted their lowest finishes of the season. The Lions finished fifth after not finishing lower than third prior to that event.

Meanwhile, the Firebirds’ seventh place finish was just the second time this season the team hadn’t finished in the top-two.

Still, several athletes were pleased after posting personal bests.

“I’m really happy with my performance,” Free State senior Landon Prideaux said after notching a 5.8 on bars. “I haven’t really been doing bars but my coach pushed me to get back into it. So the last meet was the first time I had done it in a year.”

Though Prideaux wasn’t able to place, a few different athletes from the two teams cracked the leaderboard in league play.

Free State freshman Grace Mayhew posted the highest finish between the two teams with a score of 8.475 to notch fourth in bars. As a team, Free State bars’ score of 23.075 was the sixth-best mark.

Mayhew was then unable to perform her floor routine after tweaking her ankle in warmups. As a result, the Firebirds scored a 25.75 in the floors portion of the meet.

“I would rather take her out of this meet and have her ready for state,” Santee said.

FSHS freshman Liliana King-Wilson was able to contribute in Mayhew’s absence, posting a 9.125 to finish fifth on the floor.

However, Lawrence’s Josie Hickerson was not too far behind King-Wilson. The LHS sophomore placed sixth with a mark of 9.0. Hickerson was the lone Lion to medal on Saturday.

Afterward, she credited her best mark to the additions she made in her routine.

“That was my highest score on floor and we had worked all week on adding stuff into my floor routine so I could get over nine,” Hickerson said. “So I was really happy about that.”

Both teams made an emphasis to add to the floors exercise where the two teams have been neck-and-neck this season. This time around, the Lions got the better of them by scoring a 26.350 in that area.

“They are pretty even,” Santee said. “It keeps flip-flopping (each meet). It’s good they have some inner team rivalry. They are friends so they are not really rivals. But yeah they are pretty comparable.”

The two teams will travel to Shawnee Mission South Invitational at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Sunflower League meet

Saturday at Lawrence High

Team scores — 1. Olathe East, 106.075; 2. Shawnee Mission West, 101.075; 3. Shawnee Mission East, 100.025; 4. Shawnee Mission Northwest, 99.875; 5. Lawrence High, 99.725; 6. Olathe Northwest, 99.6; 7. Free State, 97.85; 8. Shawnee Mission South, 96.075; 9. Olathe South, 92.575; 10. Shawnee Mission North, 63.425; 11. Olathe North, 51.7.

Lawrence High/Free State results

All around — 11. Eden Kingery, LHS, 33.4; 14. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 33.025; 15. Liliana King-Wilson, FS, 32.875; 19. Jordyn Leon, LHS, 32.15; 21. Eliana Seidner, LHS, 31.55; 22. Monica Kimmel, FS, 31.4; 26. Kenzie Rorabaugh, FS, 30.375; 35. Klara Hinson, LHS, 25.625; 36. Grace Mayhew, FS, 25.075.

Vault — T-11. Liliana King-Wilson, FS, 8.45; 13. Jordyn Leon, LHS, 8.425; T-14. Eliana Seidner, LHS, 8.4; 18. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 8.3; T-26. Eden Kingery, LHS, 8.05; T-26. Kenzie Rorabaugh, FS, 8.05; 31. Grace Mayhew, 7.95; T-33. Monica Kimmel, FS, 7.9; T-42. Lily Thompson, FS, 7.55.

Bars — 4. Grace Mayhew, FS, 8.475; 13. Eden Kingery, LHS, 7.9; 15. Jordyn Leon, LHS, 7.75; 21. Liliana King-Wilson, FS, 7.425; 27. Kenzie Rorabaugh, FS, 7.175; T-29. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 7.025; T-29. Monica Kimmel, FS, 7.025; 31. Eliana Seidner, LHS, 6.65; 36. Landon Prideaux, FS, 5.8; 41. Klara Hinson, LHS, 4.925.

Beam — 9. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 8.7; T-11. Eden Kingery, LHS, 8.65; T-11. Grace Mayhew, FS, 8.65; 17. Eliana Seidner, LHS, 8.2; T-19. Monica Kimmel, FS, 8.05; T-22. Liliana King-Wilson, FS, 7.875; 28. Landon Prideaux, FS, 7.475; 30. Jordyn Leon, LHS, 7.4; 36. Kenzie Rorabaugh, FS, 6.95; 45. Klara Hinson, LHS, 5.8.

Floor — 5. Liliana King-Wilson, FS, 9.125; 6. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 9.0; 9. Eden Kingery, LHS, 8.8; T-14. Jordyn Leon, LHS, 8.55; 18. Monica Kimmel, FS, 8.425; 22. Eliana Seidner, LHS, 8.3; 25. Kenzie Rorabaugh, FS, 8.2; 37. Klara Hinson, LHS, 7.4; 42. Jessica Rohe, FS, 7.15.