Panthers have eye toward state tournament

Mead High School gymnastics coach Amanda Workman is not about to bite the hand that feeds her, so when she points out the differences between the club sport and the interscholastic version, it’s with no criticism of the former.

Workman has everybody back from the team that finished fifth in the State 4A tournament last winter, so she’s looking for a big season. And she’ll need it. Defending state champion Bothell also returns all its top competitors.

It’s difficult to talk about high school gymnastics without some reference to local clubs, especially since virtually all the top prep athletes have a club background.

“Most of our girls have done club at some point,” said Workman, “even if they’re not doing it now. A lot of girls, once they get to that transition between middle school and high school, decide that they’d rather be part of the high school team.

“Many of them are worn out from club, and school gymnastics involves a lot less time. They want to be part of the school, go to dances, be involved in other activities. And they want to represent Mead.

“The biggest difference between the two is probably the team concept that’s part of the high school program. Club is all about the individuals, so when girls make that transition, sometimes they have no understanding of the team part of it. It takes a while for them to realize that everything they do affects the entire team. They usually get it by their sophomore season.”

Last year’s team surprised her, she said. It was after after a couple of meets that she had an idea how strong the Panthers could be, but once she did, she began to modify routines with an eye toward the state tournament.

East Side teams are historically at a competitive disadvantage at the state tournament because almost every West Side school trains on a spring floor, while Greater Spokane League schools practice on wrestling mats. That can result in watered-down routines that don’t play well at state-tournament time, so Workman geared up by adding more difficult moves with more point value.

Last year’s experience has senior Ashley Dotson fired up for a return trip to state, where she’s hoping for a top-two finish.

“It’s really hard to make midseason adjustments in your program,” she said, “so what we did last year was pretty amazing. We don’t really have a lot of practice time. We expected to do well over there, but it was a little bit of a shock to do as well as we did.

“We were excited to finish fifth, but even on the way home we were already pumped up for this year because we knew we could do better.”

Dotson was a club participant for 10 years, stopping at 14 before she started high school.

“Club is amazing for the most dedicated gymnasts,” she said, “but I wanted to have a life in high school. When you’re doing club, it’s like a full-time job.”

Senior teammate Tonya Turner is also eager for a return trip to state, which would be her fourth in four years. Like Dotson, she was a club gymnast through eighth grade.

“We have a good mix of experienced and younger girls this year,” she said. “Our responsibility with the new girls is to be a role model and a good example. We try to help motivate them and help them learn that we’re a team, not just a group of individuals.”