(Brock Laue/CHSAANow.com)
THORNTON — Pomona has come painfully close to winning state championships. While often in the mix in a number of sports, they’ve seemed to finish seasons in the semifinals or as the runner-up a number of times.
But on Friday at the Class 5A state gymnastics meet at Thornton High School, the Panthers left nothing to chance as they trounced all competitors and even the all-classification Colorado record with a monstrous 190.925 point total. The previous all-time best was set back in 1998 by Cherry Creek with 189.775.
Just how thorough was Pomona in their domination?
The Jeffco school had the individual champion in the all-around competition as the coach’s daughter, Kelsey Boychuk (38.825 points), won back-to-back this year as a sophomore. The Panthers also had the runner-up in Brooke Weins (38.725) and the third place finisher in Alyssa Minyard (38.625), an Oregon State commit.
Weins and Minyard were first and second in the uneven bars, Boychuk, Minyard, and Weins, in that order, were ahead of everyone in the vault, and Boychuk was first in the balance beam. In the Panthers’ worst event, the floor, Boychuk still finished fourth, Weins ninth, Minyard 11th, and Hadley Hagemann 13th.
With that type of top end talent on the same team, it’s no wonder Pomona was able to become the first-ever team to score over 190 points.
The school, located in Arvada, also won their first-ever state championship in any girls sport. It was their first title since winning 5A wrestling in 2013 and sixth title overall.
“It means a lot to the school and to the community,” Pomona coach Tracey Boychuk, in her 15th season at the helm, said. “They’ve worked so hard and they’ve wanted this for a long time. Four years ago, these seniors wanted this. The community deserves this. I’m so happy.”
Pomona’s Kelsey Boychuk. (Brock Laue/CHSAANow.com)
Boychuk, whose team dominated in every discipline, yes, even the floor, said she liked the rotation for her team. They began with the floor and closed in style with the uneven bars.
“Floor, this whole year, has been our weakest event, and bars has been our strongest event, so we felt like it was a really good rotation for us,” she said. “They really came through. Their confidence showed tonight.”
And, even with a team tally that astronomical, the long-time Pomona coach felt it wasn’t a huge surprise for the level of talent they have and how hard her girls have worked.
“We had set a goal of 190 at the beginning of the season,” she said. “We hit a 188 earlier in the year without everybody and we hit a 187 at regionals without everybody. We knew this was going to be our chance.”
Broomfield finished as the runner-up with 185.875 points. Rocky Mountain was third with 184.900 and Overland, the defending champions and winners of four of the past six titles going in, finished fourth with 184.200. Interestingly enough, the Trailblazers nearly scored the same amount as they did in winning the 2014 state title when they racked up 184.97 points. Clearly, not just for Pomona, 2015 has been an extra special season for 5A gymnastics.
As for the individual all-around competition, Kelsey Boychuk achieved something that is often so elusive in sports, repeat as a champion. Her mom was proud.
“Her focus is just amazing,” Tracey said. “She loves what she does and she does it for the team. She loves being part of this team and I’m so happy for her.”
“It means a lot,” Kelsey added. “We did it for each other. It was much more exciting this year, because of the team.”
The 4A and 5A state meet will continue on Saturday at Thornton at 4 p.m. Those who finished in the top 15 of any of the four events on day one will compete for the vault, beam, bars, and floor state championships on day two.