Nina Evans might think it sounds corny coming out of her mouth, but the way the Mountain View High senior describes a perfectly executed vault, it makes perfect sense.
As part of her 12-step approach on the runway, she can tell when it’s about to be a good vault even before she stuck the landing Thursday like Coach Cristi Wescott predicted on her second and final attempt of her best event by her own admission.
“It sounds kind of weird,” Evans said, “I mark it when I run and I blink. And if I blink at that time, I do a really good vault.”
The mark and blink simultaneously happened at step seven on the approach, leading to a 9.400 score.
Her reaction was more than enough for words.
“That’s kind of cool at state,” she said.
And fittingly, it vaulted Evans to her highest all-around finish of her career, a 36.125 score to place sixth at Thursday’s first day of the 3A/2A/1A state gymnastics meet at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall. By placing in the top 16, she’ll compete in Saturday’s finals on floor, bars, and of course, vault, to highlight first-day efforts for Clark County gymnasts. The Class 4A meet begins Saturday.
While it was Evans’ day, the Columbia River Chieftains look forward to Saturday’s conclusion of the 3A/2A/1A meet as a bounce-back day.
It was a disappointing start to what was supposed to be a strong weekend for the Chieftains, who are making their 21st consecutive state appearance. River posted one of the highest team scores from its district meet (173.725), coach Alicia Green said, but its titles chances took a major hit before competition began when beam and bars district champion Grace Gordon fractured her foot at practice this week.
Another hit came when senior Sarah Ellis, the defending state champion on balance beam, failed to qualify for Saturday’s final out of the team competition, meaning the senior won’t defend her 2017 state title in the event.
Friday, River opened the team competition on beam, and Ellis competed last in the Chieftains’ rotation. Ellis said her beam routine wasn’t a bad one; it just wasn’t her best. She posted a 8.475 score, which wasn’t enough to advance her to Saturday’s top 16. She did make finals on floor (9.450) and vault (9.250), and those two scores were fifth-best from Friday.
“It just wasn’t there (on beam) today, and that’s OK,” Ellis said. “I made it in two other events and I just have to do the best I can on those.”
Teammate Morgan Fitzer reached finals on floor (9.150) and beam (8.800).
Notes: Washougal’s Katie Stevens, a freshman, became the Panthers’ first state-bound gymnast Friday. The freshman competed with Camas this season until the district tournament. She competed in three events Friday; her best score was an 8.800 on floor. … Event finals Friday for 3A/2A/1A are at 11 a.m. The Class 4A meet begins at 1 p.m. Saturday.
