With the regular season winding down and the South Puget Sound League 3A/4A sub-district gymnastics meet looming on Feb. 6 at Kentwood High School, the three Auburn schools are hard at work, fine-tuning routines in hopes of reaching top marks.

For Auburn Mountainview, which finished second at the 3A state meet last year, this season has been about getting healthy and gaining experience.

After taking a year off because of an injury, senior Alexis Morton is almost back to her 2008 form when she placed second in the all-around at the 3A state showdown, according to Lions coach Jayme Hostetter.

“Lexi is an amazing athlete,” Hostetter said. “She’s almost where she was two years ago. By the SPSL (sub-district meet), I hope to have her there.”

Morton’s season-high, all-around score is 35.05.

Also back from injury is Natalie Hostetter, who was out for several meets this season with a leg injury.

“Natalie is about at 85 percent,” said Coach Hostetter, who expected her daughter to perform in all the events at Wednesday’s All-City meet (results unavailable at press time). “It has been a difficult injury to come back from. Sometimes it’s the simple things that seem to hurt the most.”

Although having the services of her top-two gymnasts is crucial, Hostetter expects the rest of her team, led by Sara Fiksdal and Michelle Tanco, to play a pivotal role in bettering the Lions’ season-high team score of 163.4. Fiskdal and Tanco have been scoring in the 31 range,

“I feel like I am never ready for postseason,” Jayme Hostetter said. “The gymnastics season is a marathon, whoever finishes with the least injuries can take it all. I am confident we will finish near the top.

“My goal is to add new skills to routines, and my gymnasts are meeting the challenge,” she continued. “If I can have five beam and five floor routines with 10.0 start values, then we are in good shape. Fiksdal and Tanco are positioned to have a 10.0 start along with Natalie and Lexi.”

Add in junior Jecinda Goodman, who is working through some academic eligibility issues, and “our team is on track,” Hostetter said.

Last dance for Turnbow

Auburn Riverside senior Rebecca Turnbow once again appears to be on track for a strong postseason performance.

Last year Turnbow finished fifth all-around at the state 4A meet with a 37.0 finish. On Jan. 6, Turnbow posted a 36.75 all-around in SPSL North competition, turning in a 9.4 on the bars, a 9.25 on the floor, a 9.1 on the beam and a 9.0 on the vault, all close to her totals at last year’s state competition.

Also on track to make some postseason noise is the Ravens’ Danielle Paris, who posted a 33.3 overall on Jan. 6, and a 9.0 on the beam.

Trojans on the march

Last season Auburn failed to advance any gymnast to the state 4A meet.

The Trojans’ best shot, Alexis Moore, was competing in another form of gymnastics at the time and couldn’t compete at district and beyond, despite qualifying at the sub-district meet.

This year however, it’s a different story.

“Alexis has been really strong this year,” said Auburn coach Katie Henry. “Last year she couldn’t go to state because she is a rhythmic gymnast, and she had a national competition then. But this year she is not doing that, so she should be a contender.”

So far this season, Moore’s best scores are a 32.0 in the all-around with a 9.4 on the floor.

In addition to Moore, Henry expects Tyler Gardner, who almost qualified for state in the beam last season, as well as Taylor Wilson and Halle Perry, to possibly move on in the postseason.

No matter how well the Trojans perform the rest of the way, Henry is pleased with how the program has progressed.

“This is by the far the most positive and supportive team we’ve ever had,” Henry said. “We had a handful of kids who had a little bit of talent from junior high who have just blossomed. The skill level has taken some drastic turns in the right direction.”

Turnout for this year’s team was high, with the team currently boasting 38 members.

“We’re big … mostly freshmen and sophomores, so that’s good,” Henry said. “We had so many kids at the beginning of the season that it was really just a matter of assessing who had potential and skills, finding out who had what and teaching them something. We just wanted to start building something. We want to build for the next couple of years.

“We’ve got a couple of girls that we know have a shot, but we don’t just cater to those girls. We try to build a program,” Henry continued. “And hopefully, we can be contenders.”