Standley Lake’s gymnastics program made a big turnaround from nearly being cut to a state title. More photos from the meet. (Pam Wagner/CHSAANow.com)
THORNTON — State championship teams are often asked if they knew winning the title was possible. The gymnasts at Standley Lake asked if they would have a program this year.
“As of January, our team was cut from the program” due to low numbers, long-time Standley Lake coach Kristen Larrington said. “We didn’t even have a team from January through March, so we fought to get these girls to come out.”
At Thornton High School on Friday, Standley Lake, competing with eight girls, made an incredible turnaround from six months ago by winning the Class 4A state championship by a narrow margin over Elizabeth, 179.05 to 178.35. See complete results from the state meet here.
“Coming into this year, we only had three girls and so we just kept trying to get as many girls as we could to come out,” Larrington said. “We have five seniors, one junior, and two freshman. So we fought. We wanted it from day one.”
Once the Gators got their full arsenal of competitors, they were an impressive team throughout the year and had the best score of any team at the 4A regional championships.
“The fact that we even got enough girls to compete is still unbelievable and then actually winning is even better,” Standley Lake’s top girl, senior Jordan Ireland, said.
Ireland, a senior, provided individual excellence for the Gators Friday with a second-place finish in the all-around competition (36.975 points). Freshman Rachel Cody was right behind Ireland in third place (36.575). Senior Maddi York placed seventh in the all-around (35.3).
Standley Lake poses with the Class 4A gymnastics trophy. More photos from the meet. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Team-wise, Standley Lake won the beam (46.1 points) and the bars (43.1) to kick off their competition, a great start — especially knowing the two events had been the weaker of the four for the Gators throughout the year.
Larrington was ecstatic.
“We came out today and hit six for six,” Larrington said of the beam and the bars. “That is very rare at any level of performance, let alone for our team to do it.
“Then heading into the last two events, we knew they were our strongest,” she said. “But, we actually didn’t have our best performance on our best two events, so we were pretty nervous about that.
Standley Lake placed second in the floor exercise (44.925 points) and a fourth in the vault (44.925).
In the end, Standley Lake’s score was enough to nip out Elizabeth and earn the school’s second state championship in any sport. They also won 5A wrestling in 2002.
“We won leagues a couple of years ago and that was kind of the first banner that went up at Standley Lake,” Larrington said. “We won Regionals this year. I mean, other than that I don’t think there are any other titles for a long time up in our school. Standley Lake needs this. They need something good in the school right now.”
The 4A all-around competition was also a story of triumph as Thompson Valley’s Alyssa Carroll, who was injured for several years, won her second straight state championship as a senior.
“It feels really good,” Carroll said of defending her all-around title. “It’s just kind of mind blowing that I could do it twice.”
Carroll, who suffered from a wedging of the spine for several years, was overjoyed to return to her favorite sport in 2013.
“Back in sixth grade, I couldn’t get out of bed,” Carroll said of her injury. “I took four years off and then I did cheerleading my first two years of high school and my back didn’t hurt during that. I was like, ‘Oh I might as well try gymnastics again,’ because I’ve always felt that little hole in my heart since I haven’t been doing gymnastics.”
On Friday, Carroll displayed her immense talent in each event, winning the floor exercise (9.575 points), the uneven bars (9.7), the vault (9.7), and the balance beam (9.575). Her all-around score was a dominating 38.55 points, well ahead of Ireland’s 36.975.
Overland notches another title in 5A
(Whitney Webermeier/CHSAANow.com)
In the evening session, Overland, the defending 5A state champions, won their fourth state title in the past six years thanks in large part to their ability to finish.
Despite winning the crown in 2013, Overland coach Lisa Sparrow and her girls weren’t completely satisfied with last year’s performance. On Friday, this year’s Trailblazer team secured the title in style.
“The success of this team came because our goal for the season was to compete to complete,” Sparrow said. “Where we had struggles last season was showing up at a meet and completing a meet and competing strong on all four events. This year that was something that we were able to do repeatedly at leagues, at regionals, and here today.”
Overland started the evening with a fall on the floor exercise, but closed with their best vault of the season, a strong performance on beam, and “then we absolutely tore it up on bars,” Sparrow said excitedly.
The final tally had Overland with 184.975 points, nipping out Broomfield (184.5) and Mountain Range (184.4).
Overland has now won five state titles overall in gymnastics.
Individually, Pomona’s Kelsey Boychuk, by placing first in the vault (9.85), first in balance beam (9.725), and second in floor exercise (9.55), captured the all-around state championship. Boychuk’s 38.325 total points were enough to inch out Cherry Creek’s Samantha Simon (38.125) and Arvada West’s Veronica Vasina (38.075).