SHORELINE — It turns out gymnastics has its own version of the Gatorade bath, football’s notorious sideline celebration.
The cream pie drive-by.
Just ask Shorewood coach Susan Riley, who came face-to-face with a whipped dessert served up by a pair of sinister senior pranksters.
The surprising delivery came moments before Shorewood was announced the winner of last week’s third annual Shoreline Cup.
In the final tune-up before tomorrow’s 4A and 3A regional meets, the Thunderbirds accumulated 163.1 points to crosstown Shorecrest’s 98.7 during the Feb. 5 clash at Shorewood High School.
“Our vault and our bars (scores) were lower than they’ve been, so I was kind of surprised we were still up at the 163 level,” Riley said. “They nailed beam and floor, which is nice to see. They’ve been working hard.”
Shorewood gymnasts registered the top five all-around scores, led by senior Alie Hofmann (34.45), freshman Elle MacGeorge (32.8) and senior Rachel Silverstein (32.45).
Hofmann won the floor exercise (8.8) and vault (8.35) and placed second in beam (8.7) and bars (8.6). MacGeorge took first in bars (8.75) and third in floor (8.3) and Silverstein was second in floor (8.6) and third in bars (7.45).
Junior Kelsey Wright cracked the top five in all four events and placed fourth in the all-around scoring. A second-place finish in vault propelled senior Lindsay Christianson to fifth all-around.
Shorecrest junior Kristina Bendiksen’s winning mark of 9.2 in beam was the highest score of the meet. Bendiksen qualified as an all-arounder for regionals, but figures her best shot at advancing to state will come in beam.
“She has very nice lines and she dances really pretty,” Scots coach Bonnie Carr said. “She has unusual combinations that other girls do not do. The judges see that and they like that.”
Confidence is another major factor in Bendiksen’s beam routine.
“You can’t get up there and think you’re going to fall,” Bendiksen said. “You can’t get nervous.”
While Bendiksen is returning to regionals for the second year in a row, teammates Camille Charlier, Sarah Nguyen and Emily Anderson are making their first postseason appearance.
The top three all-arounders and the next 10 individual finishers in each event at the 3A regional meet receive state berths. Carr guessed the field will include roughly 140 gymnasts.
Bendiksen is trying to keep her goals simple.
“I just want to have fun,” she said. “I don’t want to have too many expectations because I don’t want to jinx myself. But I’d like to make it on to state on beam and floor at least. Those are my best two events.”
Shorewood and Kingco powers Redmond, Woodinville and Roosevelt will contend for two team state berths at the 4A regional meet. Three all-around and an additional eight individual berths per event are also up for grabs.
A Shoreline District team hasn’t qualified for state since 1995-96, the last season Shorewood and Shorecrest competed as a combined squad.
“We’re going to regionals as the underdog,” Riley said. “If we go and get fourth place, it’s no big deal. Anything else would be an upset and they have the potential of doing it. They have a really good chance of qualifying for state, especially if they keep up the momentum they’ve built so far.”
Riley predicted a team score close to 170 or above will be necessary to secure a state bid. Shorewood’s highest mark this season is 164, but Riley noted that scores traditionally go up at regionals due to differences in judging.
“We can add up the things we missed today — falls on floor, falls on bars — and we’re right at 170,” she said.
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