High School Sports

Newport gymnastics coach Melissa Baker called it her team's best meet of the season, and she foresees the potential for even brighter nights ahead.

"This was definitely our best meet that we've had, and we can do better," Baker said after Newport posted a score of 175.55 to edge Woodinville (174.45) and win the KingCo 4A Championship Saturday night at Roosevelt High School.

Senior Kristine Wong, the defending 4A all-around state champion, claimed the KingCo title with wins on bars and beam and a total score of 37.375. Teammates Malie Fujii and Candace Ho, members of what Baker calls Newport's Triple Threat, also finished in the top five of all-around.

Fujii, a senior, took third on beam and floor and posted an all-around total of 36.475. Ho, a sophomore, scored 36.325, placing second on vault and third on bars.

"We still had to count falls tonight," Baker said, "so we're going to peak when in counts, at the state meet."

That takes place in Tacoma in two weeks. Before that, Newport, the 2011 state team champion, joins three other teams — Woodinville, Bothell (164.625) and Inglemoor (163.95) — advancing to next Saturday's Sea-King District meet at Sammamish.

In a change from past years, two 4A teams from the Sea-King District will move on to state. That means Newport, last year's champ, and Woodinville, which won four straight titles from 2007 to 2010, will likely match skills in Tacoma.

"We're pretty equivalent with Woodinville," Baker said. "We barely beat them on floor and vault, but they killed us on bars (42.8 to 40.75).

That's what it's going to come down to, and what is Newport going to do in the next two weeks to get there?"

In addition to her wins on bars (9.275) and beam (9.65), Wong also put up a 9.65 on floor, second only to a glittering 9.8 by Mina Tanaka of Inglemoor.

"I think I did the best beam routine I've ever done," Wong said. "I just focused and felt confident."And I made sure I breathed," she added. "Sometimes I forget to breathe when I do my beam routine. That's what I was most nervous about tonight. It was my first event, but after I got through that, it was just about keeping the groove going."

Raynie Hultgren of Bothell won the vault (9.1), took second on bars (9.15) and placed second in the all-around (36.925). Tanaka finished fourth in all-around (36.375).

Woodinville had just one top-three finish, Alex Puri on vault (9.0), but can challenge Newport with substantial depth.

Woodinville coach Kim Fleming, coping with a vocal cord ailment that has literally left her speechless for a month, conveyed her impressions through assistant coach Nicole Boyd.

"We're a young team, and I'm happy with how we did," Boyd said as Fleming's translator. "We didn't hit everything this week, but we can keep moving forward and get a better score next week. We don't have one person who's No. 1 in all-around for us every week."

Madison Engel was Woodinville's top all-around finisher, placing sixth (35.5).

Newport's Baker cited the work of assistant coach Shannon Harris, who performed for 10 years in modern dance troupes in Los Angeles before joining Newport's staff.

"We had a particularly great floor (47.05) tonight," Baker said. "She's reworked a lot of the choreography making everything really flow together."

KingCo 3A

With a win on vault and a top-three sweep on floor, Mount Si won the KingCo 3A meet. The Wildcats (155.8 points) and second-place Mercer Island (150.525) advance as teams to next week's district meet.

Jenn Rogers (9.6), Carissa Castayno (9.45) and MacKenzie Brown (9.25) placed 1-2-3 for Mount Si on floor. Castayno took first on vault with an 8.4.

Mercer Island's Kristen Trumble took the all-around title with a score of 32.9. She placed first on bars (7.8) and beam (8.25). Lexi Nunes of Bellevue, with third-place finishes on vault and beam, was second in all-around (32.8) and Castayno (32.725) was third.