photo by: Andrew Rosenthal

Free State's Chaney Finkeldei does her routine in the beam at the league meet Saturday, Oct. 6.

OVERLAND PARK — With the Lions a half point ahead of Olathe East heading into the final event, Lawrence High and Free State coach Michelle Seidner told her team the same thing she always does.

“Stay focused and do their best, and that’s what they do every time,” Seidner said.

In the end, Olathe East, the only team that has ever been able to squeeze ahead of the Lawrence gymnastics team this season, took home the Sunflower League title with a score of 102.925. It was just over a half point (.525) ahead of the Lions, who nearly scored the same.

Lawrence posted a team score of 102.400 to earn second place at the Sunflower League meet Saturday afternoon. Both teams went home with hardware, as Free State combined for a score of 100.825 to place third.

Seidner said that the Firebirds went into the day with a goal of scoring above 100 points, and succeeded.

“Getting third place is a big deal here, (the Firebirds) are going to rock it out in state,” Seidner said.

Both high schools were well represented in the all-around, taking three podium spots.

Lawrence’s Eden Kingery took fourth with a score of 34.275 and Paris Spotted Tail placed sixth with a score of 33.925. Kingery placed in the top-12 of each event she competed in and Spotted Tail placed in the top-10 in three of four events.

photo by: Andrew Rosenthal

Lawrence High’s Paris Spotted Tail performs her floor routine at the Sunflower League meet on Saturday, Oct. 6.

Free State’s Talia Gay won each event on the day, with her beam score of 9.325 the highest among all performances in the gym. With a fourth place medal in the beam, Chaney Finkeldei surged as the Firebirds second-best finisher in the all-around, finishing 18th with a score of 32.000.

“(Talia) is an amazing gymnast and she deserves every bit of it, and she’s used to being up there,” Seidner said. “She’s comfortable up there, and she knows she deserves it.”

Lawrence posted the third highest score in any event on the day with a 26.4 on the floor routine. Kingery took second in the event with a score of 9.100 and Josie Hickerson also earned a second place medal with a 9.000 in vault.

“I love our floor routines, I think they’re so energetic and the girls work really hard, it’s my favorite thing to watch, my girls love doing it and you can see it on their faces,” Seidner said.

With state next on both teams’ horizon, Seidner was pleased with the results for both teams despite coming up short of a league title.

“They’re pretty excited (for state), they think we got a good run at first, and we’re going for it,” Seidner said.

Both schools look for a podium finish at the 2018 KSHSAA state gymnastics meet October 20 at Shawnee Mission South.

SUNFLOWER LEAGUE GYMNASTICS MEET

Saturday at Shawnee Mission West

Team Scores — 1. Olathe East, 102.925; 2. Lawrence 102.400; 3. Free State 100.825, 4. SM Northwest 100.250; 5. SM South 100.000; 6. SM East 97.075; 7. Olathe West 94.00; 8. Olathe South 93.850; 9. Olathe Northwest 88.650; 10. Olathe North 83.850; 11. SM North 73.425; 12. SM West 65.825.

Lawrence High/Free State results

All-Around — 1. Talia Gay, FS, 36.825; 4. Eden Kingery, LHS, 34.275; 6. Paris Spotted Tail, LHS, 33.925; 18. Chaney Finkeldei, FS, 32.000; 30. Tori Crockett, FS, 28.425.

Vault — 1. Gay, 9.100; 2. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 9.000; T-12. Crockett, 8.400; T-12. Kingery, 8.400; T-14. Beth Brandt, LHS, 8.300; 16. Spotted Tail, 8.225; T-17. Ashley Mai, 8.200; T-19. Savanna Dey, FS, 8.100; 21. Finkeldei, 7.850.

Bars — 1. Gay, 9.275; 4. Hickerson, 8.500; T-8. Spotted Tail, 8.100; 10. Kingery, 7.900; 19. Crockett, 6.975; 21. Finkeldei, 6.800; 30. Brandt, 5.750; T-33. 5.200; 35. Zakya Dorsey, FS, 4.900; 37. Mai, 4.600.

Beam — 1. Gay, 9.325; 4. Finkeldei, 9.050; 6. Kingery, 8.875; 9. Spotted Tail, 8.650; T-14. Hickerson, 8.275; T-19. Dorsey, 8.000; 36. Reece Wohlford, LHS, 6.075; 37. Crockett, 5.800; 39. Kate Pilakouski, FS, 5.375; 40. Kaila Bradfield, LHS, 4.950.

Floor — 1. Gay, 9.125; 2. Kingery, 9.100; 4. Spotted Tail, 8.950; 14. Brandt, 8.350; 16. Finkeldei, 8.300; T-17. Dey, 8.275; T-30. Dorsey, 7.700; T-30. Cloe Myers, LHS, 7.700; 35. Crockett, 7.250.