Free State freshman Talia Gay glides through the air during her floor exercise routine on Saturday at the FSHS Invitational. Gay won the floor exercise and the bars, tied for first in the beam and was crowned the all-around champion.

With only Lawrence High and Free State left competing in the final rotation of the FSHS Invitational on Saturday, a majority of the gymnasts from each team gathered around the floor exercise mat to cheer on Firebird freshman Talia Gay in her final event.

Gay had already won the bars and tied for first in the vault, but garnering gold in the floor exercise was not going to be an easy task after teammate Mikyla Williams posted a score of 9.15 right before she took the mat. The Free State freshman executed a near flawless routine of her own to win the floor exercise with a score of 9.25, which helped her claim first place in the all-around and lead the Firebirds to fourth in the team standings.

“Talia’s energy is just so amazing,” FSHS and LHS coach Michelle Seidner said. “Just her positive attitude and her presence when she is performing — she’s just a delight to watch in any event.”

The Free State freshman edged Shawnee Mission Northwest senior Hallie Ross by nearly half a point to win the all-around, and placed in all four events. Gay entered this season with quite a bit of previous experience in club gymnastics between her time at Lawrence Gymnastics Academy and Pinnacle Gymnastics in Shawnee, and has enjoyed fitting right in on Seidner’s squad.

“Joining the team has been really fun,” Gay said. “I love my teammates.”

While Seidner was ecstatic about Gay’s all-around performance and Williams’ strong finish in floor, she wished that the Firebirds would have been able to place higher in the team standings. Seidner believes that the Free State will be more competitive as a team at future meets once they get to full strength.

“Monica Kimmel is one of our all-around girls who just came back after a sprained ankle today,” Seidner said. “We only competed her in bars today, but she’ll be back competing all-around soon. She’ll the team get their team scores up.”

The Lawrence High team scores were up from their previous two meets thanks to the combo of Josie Hickerson and Eden Kingery, who placed third and fifth, respectively, in the all-around.

Hickerson set the tone for the Lions in the bars by setting a personal-best score of 8.05 to take third place in the event. The Lawrence High junior also placed third in vault and fourth in the floor exercise.

“That just started out the meet really good,” said Hickerson of her bars routine. “Then going on beam, having a fall kind of set me back, but I knew as soon as I got to floor that I could pick it back up again. I was pretty proud of myself for getting my energy back up after having a couple of falls on beam.”

The vibes were positive all around for the Lions en route to a second-place finish. Lawrence High finished with a team score of 98.75, which was bested by only Ross and the Cougars (101.1).

“We definitely had our best meet,” Hickerson said. “We came in and we weren’t as nervous as we were in the last two meets. So we were just able to come in and do what we needed to do, and it ended up working out well.”

Kingery joined Hickerson in medaling in the vault after finishing in a three-way tie for sixth, and she added a third-place finish in the beam. Eliana Seidner, Michelle Seidner’s daughter, rounded out the medalists for Lawrence High by placing fifth in the floor exercise.

“It really is an honor to coach all of the girls, especially one that is mine,” Michelle Seidner, who is in her first year of coaching the Lions and Firebirds, said. “I’m going to be a hot mess at Lawrence High when I have to do her little senior speech, but I’m really proud to be her mom and I’m really proud to be her coach. That’s the way it’s always been with us.”

Lawrence High and Free State will be back in action at 6 p.m. Tuesday for the Olathe East Invitational.

Free State Invitational

Saturday at Free State

Team scores — 1. Shawnee Mission Northwest, 101.1; 2. Lawrence High, 98.75; 3. Newton, 96.4; 4. Free State, 93.45; 5. Shawnee Mission North, 93.25; 6. Emporia, 86.1; 7. Shawnee Mission West, 52.75; 8. Riverbend, 30.1.

Free State and Lawrence High results (top-six finishers placed)

All-around — 1. Talia Gay, FS, 36.01; 3. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 34.5; 5. Eden Kingery, LHS, 32.75; Mikyla Williams, FS, 31.85; Eliana Seidner, LHS, 31.2; Kaila Bradfield, LHS, 27.1; Kalilyah Townsend, FS, 21.85.

Vault — 3. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 8.9; T-6. Eden Kingery, LHS, 8.6; T-6. Talia Gay, FS, 8.6; Mikyla Williams, FS, 8.4; Eliana Seidner, LHS, 8.2; Klara Hinson, LHS, 8.0; Kaila Bradfield, LHS, 7.6; Kaliyah Townsend, FS, 6.4; Dagny Mavilla, FS, 6.4; Anastasia Bunting, FS, 6.2.

Bars — 1. Talia Gay, FS, 8.95; 3. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 8.05; Eliana Seidner, LHS, 7.25; Mikyla Williams, FS, 7.1; Eden Kingery, LHS, 7.0; Monica Kimmel, FS, 6.7; Klara Hinson, LHS, 5.0; Kaila Bradfield, LHS, 4.5; Dagny Mavilla, FS, 4.1; Kaliyah Townsend, FS, 3.4.

Beam — T-1. Talia Gay, FS, 9.2; 3. Eden Kingery, LHS, 9.1; Josie Hickerson, LHS, 8.5; Kaila Bradfield, LHS, 7.5; Eliana Seidner, LHS, 7.2; Mikyla Williams, FS, 7.2; Tia Herman, LHS, 7.1; Kaliyah Townsend, FS, 4.4; Anastasia Bunting, FS, 4.15; Lauren Miller, FS, 4.05.

Floor — 1. Talia Gay, FS, 9.25; 2. Mikyla Williams, FS, 9.15; 4. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 9.05; 5. Eliana Seidner, LHS, 8.55; Eden Kingery, LHS, 8.05; Kaliyah Townsend, FS, 7.65; Klara Hinson, LHS, 7.6; Kaila Bradfield, LHS, 7.5; Lauren Miller, FS, 6.75; Dagny Mavilla, FS, 5.35.