It wasn’t the finish they wanted, but it was certainly one to be proud about.

The Spartans gymnastics team took fourth place at the District 1 and 2 3A/2A Gymnastic Championships Saturday at Sammamish High.

The Mount Si Wildcats took the team title with 169.175 points. Host Sammamish was second with 155.950, and Holy Names Academy was third with 152.825.

“I thought we did very well,” said Spartan Coach Cindy Guy.

“It was a super high pressure meet, and Holy Names, we knew had more depth than us. They hit all of their events,” she said.

Bainbridge did well early, despite starting on bars.

“We felt like our bar scores were high and the highest we had in the season,” she said.

The Spartans were in second place after bars and vault, despite some early missteps.

“We had a fall on bars that we had to count, and we had a couple falls on beam, and that really hurts,” Guy recalled.

The Spartans’ Sarah Rice finished third on bars, with a score of 8.10. It tied a season best for the sophomore standout.

Rice followed up with a first place in her next event, and scored a season-best 9.375 on vault to take the district title.

Then came beam, and trouble.

Nykaela Dodson of Sammamish took the title with an impressive 9.65.

Bellevue’s Ayane Rossano was second with a 9.4 score, followed by Jenn Rogers of Mount Si in third with 9.05.

“Beam — we just couldn’t compete with the big guns,” Guy said. “They had a lot more skills in their routines than we did and it showed.”

Rice finished fourth with a score of 9.0.

Fellow Spartan Miller Shor earned seventh place with 8.45.

The Spartans were dogged in the next event as well.

“And then floor was the same situation,” Guy noted.

Marielle Summers, Shor and Rice did well, and Summers had her high score of the meet in the floor exercise with a 8.60.

Rogers again came out big for the Wildcats, and posted a first-place win for Mount Si with a 9.6. Rossano took second for the Wolverines with 9.45, and Dodson finished third for Sammamish with 9.4.

In all-around competition, Rice placed second with 35.225. Dodson was the titleist with 36.25.

Shor finished at ninth in all-around scoring.

“Miller had a really good meet; her all-around average was the highest she’s gotten all season,” Guy said.

“To be in the top 10 in a huge meet like that — that is a great accomplishment,” she said.

Senior Heidi Franz also performed well for the Spartans, Guy said.

“She really hit her routines. She worked really, really hard and it paid off,” Guy said.

“She just worked on improving all week and all season and she added some more skills and she hit them,” she said.

Three Spartans will advance to this weekend’s state meet at the Tacoma Dome: Rice (all-around), Shor (all-around) and Summers (vault, bars, floor exercise).

Though the Spartans had hoped to advance to the state championships as a team, they held their heads high even after it became apparent that the squad wouldn’t be heading to Tacoma as a whole.

“It’s hard not going on as a team. But they handled it with grace and dignity,” Guy said.

“As coaches we were so happy that the kids worked and they tried their best. We were pleased with everybody’s efforts,” she said.