Coming up on the horizon for winter sports in Auburn is gymnastics.
There were six gymnasts from Auburn schools who competed at Sammamish High School for the state gymnastics tournament earlier this year — three from Auburn Riverside, two from Auburn, and one competitor from Auburn Mountainview.
Nya Pomerinke was the sole athlete from Auburn Mountainview who made it to state. The Lion competed in vault and was tied for 32nd in state at the 3A class.
Auburn had a very solid showing at state fueled by Quinn Tongue and Michaela Reynolds. Tongue competed on the floor and beam events. She finished tied for 63rd and tied for 57th, respectively. Reynolds showed up for the Trojans, and her highest finish was second place on the floor. She also finished tied for 70th on beam, tied 32nd on vault, and tied 15th on bars. Reynolds finished just outside the top 20 in the all around, placing at 21st.
Riverside’s three athletes all placed inside the top 60 in every event. Ava Lear competed on the bars, vault and floor. On the bars, she placed 22nd, on the vault she placed 43rd, and on the floor she tied for 58th. Jade Porter only competed in vault and tied for 53rd. Ashley Park was Riverside’s other gymnast — she competed in three events like her teammate Lear. Park placed 31st on the bars, tied for 28th on floor and tied for 20th on beam.
Riverside opens up their 2023 campaign at home taking on Todd Beamer and Auburn Mountainview on Dec 7. On Dec. 14, the Lions host their first meet against Federal Way, Thomas Jefferson and Auburn Riverside. The Trojans’ season starts with back-to-back meets on the road, and their first home meet is Jan. 4 against Thomas Jefferson and Auburn Riverside.
About gymnastics
Gymnastics consists of four different events and one classification where athletes can compete in all four categories.
For the first category, we’ll start with the floor, in which an athlete will choose a routine paired with music. The routine is accomplished by doing a set of leaps, flips, twists and turns. The athlete is then judged based on their execution and form as well as staying in bounds through the duration of their routine.
The next category is the vault. The vault is set up with a runway that leads to a spring board to what is referred to as a vaulting table. The athlete runs down the runway, then leaps off the springboard. They then use the vault to help twist and turn off the table. The judges score the event based on the height and distance as well as the athlete’s stability when landing on the mat.
Following the vault, we move to the balance beam. The beam is four feet in the air. Gymnasts focus on keeping their balance while doing turns, flips and jumps. The judge scores the athlete by how stable they are on the beam, and the difficulty of the actions they do on the beam.
The uneven parallel bars are the last event for gymnasts. The lower set of bars is set at 5.4 feet and the higher bar is 7.8 feet in the air. While on the bars, gymnasts jump between bars and do flips and twists. They receive points based on the quality of skill and level of complexity. They are also scored on their dismount and keeping a straight line throughout their routine.
The final event is the all around. To be an all around athlete means that gymnasts will compete in every single event.
