Reporter staff

Auburn Mountainview sophomore Kayla Porter made the most of her first year of competing in prep gymnastics on Saturday by taking second in the state 3A championship at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.

Porter, who was formerly a Level 9 club gymnast, earned a 38.050 all-around score with first-place finishes in the bars (9.6) and the beam (9.450). She also finished third in the floor (9.600) and was fourth in the vault (9.400).

“I wasn’t expecting there to be much competition because I was always told high school was easier than club,” Porter told The Olympian. “However, there was some pretty good girls here, and it made me work for what I wanted. It was a good thing. It didn’t make me seem like I was better than everybody, and I wanted to have somebody to compete against; that was exactly what I got.”

Sammamish’s Nykaela Dodson finished first in the all-around with a 38.125.

In the individual event competitions, Porter took first in the beam (9.700). She also finished third in both the floor and the bars, with a 9.260 and a 9.450, respectively, and was fourth in the vault (9.375).

Also placing in the individual events was Auburn Riverside’s Tayler Johnson, who was sixth on the bars (9.125). Johnson also finished 16th in the beam and the floor.

Johnson helped guide the Ravens to a sixth-place finish with her 15th-place, 35.275-point all-around performance.

The Ravens’ Luba Migdal was 26th in the all-around (33.450).

Also competing for Auburn Riverside were Hannah Wilson, Emily Polkow, Kristina Kovalchuk, Amanda Bunger and Madison Thompson.

Kamiakin was first in the team competition with 174.650 points. Enumclaw was second with 172.575.