Last year the postseason was not kind to Auburn Riverside gymnast Rebecca Turnbow.

After posting a 37.250 all-around at the 3A state meet as a freshman, Turnbow came into the final two meets of her sophomore season looking to better her fourth-place finish from the previous year.

But at the district meet disaster struck in the form of an ankle injury, sustained after a bad landing off the vault.

After hobbling around for a week on crutches, Turnbow came into the state meet the following week, looking at least to compete in a couple of events to help her Raven teammates.

But lightning struck again, when she injured her other ankle. Although she still managed to compete and finished 80th overall, Turnbow was disappointed.

This year, however, Turnbow hopes to reverse her fortune, starting at this Saturday’s SPSL 4A league meet at Kentwood.

“It’s going to be weird coming back and competing again in the meets that I was injured in last year,” Turnbow said. “It’s kind of going to be like déjà vu. But I think I’ll do fine this year. I’m not doing the same vaults because of my ankles, but I’ll be fine.”

After rehabbing her ankles during the off season, Turnbow said she is ready to make a run at the all-around title.

“I think I’m about the same as last year,” she said. “My vault scores have gone down because I can’t do the vaults that I used to because of my ankles. But my bar scores have gone up, and I’m about the same in the floor and the beam.”

“She’s probably at about the same level as last year,” said Raven coach Cathy Robinson. “She got her ankles back to where she needs to be. She still feels a little pain in one of them, but she’s not the type of girl that is going to let that stop her. She has a good shot at the all-around.”

Judging by her performance at the Auburn all-city meet this past week, Turnbow may indeed have a shot.

She posted her best individual performance in the all-around since her freshman state meet performance, scoring a 37.10. In addition, she notched a new school record on the beam, scoring a 9.75 and beating the old record of 9.7 set by her older sister Raquel Turnbow – now a junior at Boise State University – in 2006.

“I texted her as soon as I did it and told her I beat her old record,” Turnbow said. “We joked about keeping it in the family. It was kind of a lot of fun.”

“The record was actually set by her sister, and no one has beaten it since 2006,” Robinson said.

Individual accolades aside, Turnbow said she hopes to capture a team title at the league meet and improve on the Ravens’ fourth-place team finish at state last year.

“At the moment we’re about the same as we were last year,” Turnbow said. “I just want everybody to do their jobs, stay on the beam and not get too stressed out.”

As a team, the Ravens will have to do without Shelby Grey, who tore her ACL at a meet in Federal Way, and Ali Rodseth, who pulled out of high school competition to compete exclusively as a club gymnast.

The cupboard, however, isn’t completely bare for Auburn Riverside. The team will still have the talents of senior Paige Crawford as well as freshmen Tanika Stensen, Payton Grey and Danielle Robinson.

“It will be an interesting meet,” Robinson said. “We’ll have to work hard. But our girls are working hard and having a lot of fun. We’ve had some disappointment along the way, but we’re going to give it our best shot.”