Welsh finishes second in the all-around to West Seattle’s Fogle.

WEST SEATTLE – The Bainbridge gymnastics team didn’t need much more motivation in the Metro League championship meet than remembering last year’s two-point loss to arch-rival West Seattle.

They used their depth to put on strong performances on the vault and the beam to stave off the Wildcats 162.925-156.7 to win the Metro League championship Friday night at West Seattle High School.

It’s their fifth league title in the six years that they’ve been in the league.

“I know this team is really talented,” head coach Cindy Guy said. “Our one goal has been to be undefeated for the regular season and to take it just one meet at a time.”

Guy also didn’t want the team to get too caught up in what the Wildcats were doing – or, what the quartet of Nina Fogle, Chelsea Wirchem, Corrine Wise and Jana Oliver were doing – with their performances.

“I told them, ‘we cannot be looking at West Seattle,’” Guy said. “We kept a tally mark if we caught them looking at the other team.”

Marie Welsh lost out on the Metro all-around title to Fogle by just 0.27, with a score of 36.78 to Fogle’s 37.05.

She bettered Fogle in the bars with a score of 9.675, but finished second to her in the beam with a 9.0, the vault with a 9.3 and the floor with an 8.8.

Even with the close score, the junior was upbeat about her performance.

“I know I have room for improvement, so that when I go into the next meet, I (go in) knowing that I’ll be psyched to do my personal best,” Welsh said.

She also said she wasn’t feeling too much pressure to keep up her undefeated streak in the all-around.

“I like competition,” she said. “Competition, I feel, makes me do better. I like to be that close with someone. It makes it fun.”

Bainbridge did their part in the competition thanks to team depth.

Sophie Wenzlau finished fifth in the all-around competition while Lauren Fleming was sixth.

Wenzlau was fourth on the bars with an 8.0, fifth on the beam with a 8.6, tied for eighth on the vault with an 8.2 and was seventh on the floor with a 7.9.

Fleming finished seventh on the bars with a 6.65, sixth on the vault with a 8.4 and tied for third on the floor with a 8.1.

The team also got some big scores on the beam from Annie Zuckerman and Katie Mathews who scored 8.325 and 7.9 respectively, while Katherine Samstag and Eva Fazinni posted scores of 8.2 and 8.5 on the vault.

“We worked really hard all season–” said co-captain Stella Wilson.

“–but there’s always room for improvement,” added Samstag.

They did a good job performing their floor routine on wrestling mats, but both Wilson and Samstag said the team could make their connections on the floor better.

Still, Guy felt they dealt with the pressure just fine.

“I thought they handled the pressure – and it’s a lot of pressure, because it’s hard to come over and tumble on those wrestling mats,” she said. “But I thought all the kids did a really good job. They put in something extra in their routines from last time.”

The Spartans travel to Sammamish High School next Saturday for the 3A district 1/2 championship and a berth to the state meet, to be held in the Tacoma Dome Feb. 16-17.