Bainbridge is edged by West Seattle at the conference championship Friday.

SEATTLE – In any event, one misstep that leads to a fall costs you a half point.

One fall is bad enough, but two falls could mean the difference between a win and a loss.

That’s what happened to the Spartan gymnastics team, as struggles on the beam and the bars cost them earning a fifth straight Metro League championship Friday. The West Seattle Wildcats came out on top by a score of 158.275-157.025, a difference of 1.25 points.

That difference means any little misstep was magnified times a thousand, and assistant coach Lorry Gilbreath recognizes every one.

“We know what we did wrong,” Gilbreath said. “A point is two falls. We fell twice on bars – we don’t do that. And then on beam is when you win or lose, every time. We won State sticking (our routines) on beam.”

The Spartans got off to a good start on the vault, as they scored no lower than an 8.2. But on the bars, the first three tumblers scored no higher than a 6.8. Sophie Wenzlau, a strong performer on the bars, had trouble with her routine and scored a 6.925.

On the beam, Stella Wilson, Lauren Fleming and Marie Welsh had two falls apiece, resulting in scores of 6.05, 7.6 and 8.875. Emily Basile and Wenzlau had no falls.

Another difficulty was the floor exercise, as the gymnasts had to perform on one of Nathan Hale’s wrestling mats instead of a springed floor. Bainbridge struggled as Wilson took a 6.45, Annie Zuckerman a 7.152 and Lauren Fleming a 6.90. Liz Annis scored a 7.65 and Wenzlau had a 7.7, good for fourth overall.

Head coach Cindy Guy felt that although floor is their strongest event, the team couldn’t overcome the mental block of performing on a non-gymnastics floor.

“There are very few qualifying meets that are on wrestling mats,” she said. “We’re the only one.

“The kids, they just freak out when they get on those wrestling mats, but that’s the breaks of the game.”

West Seattle made them pay for their mistakes, as the triumvirate of Nina Fogle, Chelsea Wirchem and Corrine Wise finished 1-3-4 in the all-around score. Fogle dominated, winning the vault with an 8.85, a 9.6 on bars and 9.45 on beam.

“They were just better than us,” Gilbreath said. “We didn’t have our best meet and they had the best meet of their lives. They deserve it.

“That’s how gymnastics is. It’s the hardest sport because it’s so difficult to be consistent. Metro is a hard league to be in.”

Despite not getting the lone district birth, the Spartans are well represented, as the top three in the all around and the top eight in each event as they move onto the regional meet this Saturday.

Gilbreath hopes they’ll use this loss to motivate them to do better.

“This is bad,” she said. “This general feeling is bad, but you know what? Don’t ignore it, live it, because I don’t want it to happen again.”

Guy agreed, as she felt this may take the tumblers off auto-pilot.

“We knew West Seattle was aiming for us,” she said. “We told (the team members), but I don’t think it really resonated with them.”

The District 1-2 meet is at 3 p.m Saturday at Sammamish High School in Bellevue.