Kay had another great year in gymnastics despite not letting us attend her meets. She gets very anxious and nervous if we show up and does better when we are not there. Fortunately for Kay we are understanding parents and fortunately for us the members of the gymnastics team know this and take video and pictures and update us as the meets are going on.
This year Kay had another teammate that is very good and between the two of them Hopkins won all but 2 of their meets. The beat archival Eden Prairie as well as Minnetonka and the team was a fulfilled high energy group on teenage girls, what could possibly go wrong!
It was also helpful because the other gymnast pushed Kay to up her game and she did. She excelled this year on vault, which for Kay has always been lowest score and nemesis. She mastered a back double back flip which was awesome. She continues to improve on the vault which was not happening at the club level and Kay landed her personal best a 9.20.
Her bars were solid she did have a bit of a hard time with the transition from the lower to upper beam. This is technical gymnastics talk which,being a follower for several years have a firm understanding of what it means, acknowledging the novice follower may not. So... to be helpful it means moving from one bar to the other! She landed a personal best this year of a 8.775.
The beam, in gymnastics terms, is where gymnastics go to die, was the strong point of Kay's year. She was consistently in the top 3 at every meet as able to stick a back tuck and double back flip off the beam and stick her landing; going into sectionals her personal best was 9.125
Her floor routine is Kay's sassy, in your face, fun time energy release and to watch her is a real treat. She takes over the floor with her skills and her attitude. Interjecting another gymnastics observation is that Kay is having so much fun she gets out one bounds 2 or 3 times which costs her up to 3/4 of a point but you can't tell her that! She again going into sectionals had a personal best of 9.1 giving her a total best overall score of 35.645.
Sectionals is the meet that can springboard a gymnast or an entire team to the State tournament. This year, and for the first time in Hopkins history, the team had a shot of making it as a team to state. How it works is the top team in the region (of 8) will go to state, in addition the top 3 gymnasts in each event will go to state. In the event that one of the top 3 is also on the team going to state the second place gymnasts will move to the first place.
So Kay had an awesome sectional meet, the problem is so did several other girls. Kay landed a personal best on the beam and 9.20 and the floor of a 9.25 giving her another personal overall score of 35.39 however her vault and bars were not her best. Kay made it to state on the beam placing 3rd in the section. She placed 5th overall and only missing out of the overall completion by less that 1 point. Her teammate came in 2nd overall and made it to state as an all a round, which Kay was last year, the team came in 3rd which was fantastic.
State is nothing less than a pressure cooker of stress, disappointment and high levels of competition on each event. Kay was only competing on the beam however the pressure is just the same. She was a bit cranky and we were worried about her focus leading up to the meet. She persevered and again landed a 9.2 which at state is an accomplishment. She ended up as 15th out of 57 on the beam. The first place girl had a 9.5 so Kay was right there! She is right in the hunt and now wants to go to the best high school training facility and get back after it! Kay we are proud of you !
Sadies is the dance in which the girls ask the guys or in this 'day in age' when a bunch of girls go online shopping for dresses, shoes and accessories driving their parents crazy with Amazon shipping, returns and a never ending stream of I changed my mind...teenage girls AUGH.
To complicate matter the dance was on the same day as the gymnastics state tournament and we were worried Kay was going to burn out. She did rally and her and her friends had a super fun time getting ready for the dance, make up , hair and whatever else teenage girls do. The dance was at the high school and they had a blast and ended up with a sleep over at Kay's friends house.
Kay made it home around 11:30 the following day and wanted to go visit another friend in the afternoon. The state tournament, the dance and overnight finally caught up with our little pukaruk and she fell asleep right after we got her home and sleep the day away.
More to come...
Kay we are so proud of you for working through the anxiety of competition and doing an amazing job. You are a wonder to watch and we love how fierce and strong you are.
Kay - State Beam
Kay - Sectionals Floor
Kay - Sectionals Vault
Post Sadies sleep over breakfast 
Ready for the dance
at the state meet banquet with her teammates
Presenting at state meet banquet
Section all around !! 
Getting recognized at the all school assembly along with the other state athletes
