SHORELINE — Alie Hofmann preserved Shorewood’s 17-year streak of sending at least one gymnast to state by advancing in the uneven parallel bars last season.

This winter, the senior co-captain is hoping her teammates will be joining her at the Class 4A championship meet.

“I really want the team to get to state,” Hofmann said. “That would be the coolest way to close out gymnastics.”

The Thunderbirds haven’t qualified for state as a team since 1995-96, the final year Shorewood and crosstown Shorecrest competed as a combined squad.

“The girls have set their goal for state. They want to qualify,” Shorewood coach Susan Riley said. “If we don’t qualify as a team, we’ve got four or five (girls) who could qualify individually.”

Hofmann was edged out of state berths in the vault and floor exercise by fractions of a point at last year’s regional meet. She was in contention in the balance beam as well until a slip cost her a half-point deduction.

“She’s as strong as she was at the end of last year,” Riley said. “She just has to get her confidence up.”

Junior Kelsey Wright missed out on her first trip to state last season by a slight margin in floor and beam.

“She has a real good floor routine and when she hits it, she scores well,” Riley said.

Though they lost seven seniors to graduation, the T-birds appear to be in better shape than last season due to the emergence of several promising newcomers.

Shorewood gained some much-needed depth with the addition of seniors Lauren Piastuch and Rachel Silverstein, freshman Elle MacGeorge and some former basketball players.

“We have some really strong athletes that came out this year, which is nice. They’re picking up things fast,” Riley said. “We have a couple first-year girls who have never done gymnastics before and they’re so competitive. They’re like, ‘I’m going to get this.’”

That sort of attitude has helped spawn healthy competition at practice for varsity spots.

“It’s not like we have this elite group and then some beginners,” Riley said. “They’re all very tight.”

As a team, the T-birds are at their best on the beam and floor. They’re working to increase their scores in bars.

“Bars is a tough one to develop routines for. It’s not just the skills, you have to have the strength to do the skills,” Riley said. “The other events, strength helps, but you can do a lot without having a lot of strength or flexibility.”

Shorewood will need to cultivate plenty of strength and flexibility to vie for a state bid. Judging by the scores the past couple seasons, Riley figures the T-birds will have to put up at least 165 points at regionals to land a team berth.

“They’ve got the potential of getting that type of score, but at the same time you could get a 175 and still not qualify,” Riley said.

Hofmann will hear none of that.

She could tell the T-birds were in for a memorable season back on the first day of tryouts when she spotted her teammates performing skills up-and-coming gymnasts usually don’t master until the end of the year.

“We have a lot of really, really good girls this year,” Hofmann said. “This is probably the strongest team I’ve been on in high school.”