All the music has been picked, the routines polished and every nagging injury from a season’s worth of work placed on the back burner for one more weekend.
And what a weekend it should be, especially in what could be one of the tightest Class 5A gymnastics team races in recent memory. Add drama and the intrigue of the all-around title chase, and Thornton High School might just blow its top.
“It has been that way all year long,” said Broomfield coach Diane Clark, whose team captured the Region A title last week. “All 12 teams have been able to score this year, and you are going to have to hit on every event to win. You miss and you’re out of the top two.”
Last year, Green Mountain ended the Northern stranglehold (Loveland, Rocky Mountain and Fort Collins) by winning the state title. Not only did the Rams slam the door, the Jefferson County League went 1-2-3, with Bear Creek and Arvada West rounding out the top three.
Bear Creek, with seniors Aditi Kulkarni and Mallory Poplaski, gets the nod from most coaches as the team to beat. Throw in Rampart, Doherty and Pine Creek from Colorado Springs, as well as Centennial League champion Overland and Continental League champion Ponderosa, and it has all the makings of a tense tournament.
“At this point, the girls just have to go out and be confident and believe in themselves,” said Green Mountain coach Sandi Patterson, whose team captured the talent-heavy Region C meet last Friday in Loveland that advanced six teams. “It’s nerve-racking, but at the same time, it’s what you’ve worked all season for, to get to this point. So now all they have to do is go out there and have fun.”
Fort Collins sophomore Michelle Tharp, fresh off her all-around title in Region C, is confident and favored. Her score of 38.275 bested defending all-around champion and floor winner Hannah Bower of Loveland (38.25) and reigning uneven bars champ Kristen Milardo of Pine Creek (38.05).
Green Mountain’s talented duo of Kelly Stone, the defending vault champion, and Alie Bowen might give the Rams what they need to make it back-to-back titles.
In Class 4A, all eyes should be on Mountain Range sophomore Anna Simmons. In 2006, Simmons won the all-around and then went on to capture titles on the beam, bars and vault. There has been no sophomore slump this season, and her numbers back it up. Add her season bests in each apparatus – floor (9.6), bars (9.8), beam (9.5) and vault (9.85) – and you get 38.75. Pretty solid.
The 2005 all-around champion, Pueblo Central’s Tera Sisson, is back and will try to knock Simmons off her perch. It was Sisson who kept Simmons from a clean sweep last season, winning the floor exercise.
“I think her focus is on winning a team title,” Pueblo Central coach Kendra Drury said of Sisson. “But she has a pretty darn good shot at some individual titles as well.”
Even with the loss of Trista Bitterlich to a knee injury last week, the Wildcats appear primed to capture their second straight team title.
Pueblo Central’s season-best team score of 178.175 is well ahead of Mountain Range’s 174.075 and Evergreen’s 171.275. Sterling is in the mix, but the Tigers will have to be extra special Friday to capture the crown.
“We are just going up there and do our best. That’s all we can ask for,” Drury said. “We are looking good with what we have.”
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
