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Tiger gymnasts take second at Evergreen quad

ADAM BOFFEY
summit daily news

EVERGREEN ” Whenever the Summit High School gymnastics team squares off against 5A schools, the Tigers do their best to ignore what their competition is doing. It’s their score that matters, not necessarily where they finish in the team standings.

When it comes to 4A clashes, however, it’s a very different story.

“Obviously, it was just as much about winning as our overall team score,” SHS coach Beth Flaherty said, referring to the Tigers’ quad at 4A Evergreen on Wednesday. “When we compete against 5A, we’re not focused on winning. … But we really wanted to beat Evergreen.”



Although the Tigers (160.5 points) were denied 4A bragging rights by the Cougars (164.2), they ironically came out ahead of their two 5A opponents ” Lakewood (154.8) and Standley Lake (154.3).

According to Flaherty, the Cougars’ home crowd presented a formidable challenge for all three visiting teams.



“It was an intimidating atmosphere,” Flaherty said. “At one point the referee had to stop the meet and announce that all the support was appreciated, but it needed to be kept in check and the high-pitched screaming had to stop. … I’d say the girls handled it well, but as a coach, it can be hard to read how much (things like that) affect them.”

The Tigers fell to the Cougars by four points after beating them by less than two points at home back on Sept. 19.

“Evergreen had a different lineup than last time,” Flaherty said. “Some of their top finishers didn’t compete against us in Summit. They definitely came to win.”

Senior captain Lauren Biegler had a big night, leading the Tigers on the bars, on the vault and in the floor routine. She also took second in the all-around.

“(Biegler) was pleased because she has been on a bit of a roller-coaster ride,” Flaherty said. “She missed the beginning of the season, so she started out a few meets behind, then was one of our lowest scorers two meets ago ” she’s normally one of the highest. On Wednesday, she was able to take her frustration and really make it work for her.”

Biegler is one of two Tigers who has qualified for four events at the 4A state meet. Both she and Emma Koenig have qualified on bars, on beam, in the floor routine and in the all-around. Although neither Summit gymnast has met the necessary criteria on the vault, they will still compete on vault at state by virtue of their all-around qualification.

Sophomore Leah Canfield has qualified for bars, beam and all around; Hannah Bolt has qualified on beam and in floor; and Chelsea Rybak has qualified on the vault and beam.

State-qualifying scores, which must be achieved at least twice throughout the season, are 8.5 for vault and floor and 8.0 for beam and bars. The state standard for the all-around is 32.0.

Summit also has the chance to advance to the state meet as a team, like it has four out of the last five seasons. The Tigers’ top three scores of the season will be averaged then ranked against other 4A team scores to determine the top six finishers, each of which will move on to the postseason.

Summit has three competitions remaining prior to the state meet, which begins Nov. 3.

Adam Boffey can be contacted at (970) 668-4634, or at

aboffey@summitdaily.com.


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