Jayme Hostetter wasn’t keeping score.

With just a few points separating her Auburn Mountainview gymnasts from the first-place Columbia River girls at the state 3A gymnastics team championship, she knew the title was within reach.

But the Lions coach had been there before.

“It was kind of a repeat of the year before,” Hostetter said.

Last season, the Lions finished second at the 3A championships after posting a dismal beam performance in their last apparatus of the meet.

This season, however, Auburn Mountainview had the advantage of doing the floor exercise last, with Columbia River forced to perform on the always difficult bars.

“In bars, you just don’t have any flexibility,” Hostetter said. “So every time we would put a girl up, they would score an 8.5 and they (Columbia River) would be scoring a 5.5. So we made up ground pretty quick.”

Even after the final events were over and the official scores were being tallied, Hostetter still had no idea what the score was.

Although congratulatory texts from parents in the stands were beginning to light up her phone, Hostetter said it wasn’t until a reporter came up to her and broke the news that the Auburn Mountainview gymnastics squad had made history, winning the school’s first ever state title.

“We were shocked because we knew we were close, but you never know for sure,” Hostetter said. “We’d been close before and kind of come out on the short end of the stick. It’s so hard to be consistent all the way through.”

For Hostetter – the Auburn Reporter Prep Coach of the Year – it was another step in a career that begin in 1986.

Hostetter, who also teaches biology and chemistry at Mountainview, first hit the mat for Renton gymnastics as a youth.

Although a back injury ended her competitive career in her junior year of high school at Kentridge, she continued to coach for local gymnastics legend Gunter Bohrmann, who won nine state titles while coaching at Kent-Meridian High School.

“I worked with him for summer camps and things like that,” she said. “He was a great man and a great coach.”

After getting her degree at Whitworth College in Spokane, Hostetter returned to the Puget Sound area and returned to her alma mater to take over the gymnastics program as coach.

“Then I came back and started coaching at Kentridge in 1986,” she said.

She coached the Chargers until 1992, when she stepped down after the birth of her daughter, Natalie.

Soon, however, the coaching bug bit again.

“I started coaching at the club level, the compulsory level kids,” Hostetter said. “It was while she (Natalie) was with them (Auburn gymnastics). It was a way for me to be with her.”

After a stint as an assistant at the newly opened Kentlake High, Hostetter jumped at the chance to helm the gymnastics program when Auburn Mountainview opened in 2005.

“(Coming here) was a gem,” she said.

For the past five years, with the help of high-caliber athletes such as Lexi Morton, Sunny Lemon, Ashley Perkovich and her own daughter Natalie, Hostetter steadily has built one of the premier gymnastics programs in the state, culminating in the 3A championship this season.

Although the team loses Morton, who was seventh in the all-around this season, the Lions will be a favorite to contend for a state championship again next year, with several quality girls returning, including Natalie and Sarah Fiksdahl.

That deep, talented lineup fueled the Lions’ drive to the title.

“I think it’s because of our depth,” Hostetter said. “For kids like Lexi and Natalie, it’s about keeping them in the shape they are in at that moment. Because it’s really hard as a high school gymnast to have the time to build brand new skills. There just isn’t enough time in three months to do that.”

Hostetter reiterated that it was important to allow the higher-level club gymnasts the chance to maintain their skills. Hostetter then extends that growth during the school season.

“With the other kids, it’s about taking the kids and building them as far as you can with their strengths and keeping it as clean as possible,” she continued. “My motto is ‘Do what you do well.’ ”

In 2010, the Lions did very well, reaching the summit of the 3A state ranks.