The Auburn Mountainview gymnastics team earned its best ever state placing this past weekend with a second-place team finish at the Washington State 3A gymnastics meet at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.

The team finished just behind champ Colombia River of Vancouver, with 168.475 points to the Chieftains’ 169.15.

The Lions’, who started the team competition with the floor, came into their final event, the beam, with the title within reach, coach Jayme Hostetter said.

“It was ours to lose,” Jayme Hostetter said. “Usually beam is really solid for us, but we didn’t do so well. We didn’t have our best beam day. And that made the difference between first and second.”

Auburn Mountainview had four competitors fall off the beam and scored just 39.6 as a team on the beam.

“They were kind of bummed, but you have to come out and hit all four events,” Jayme Hostetter said.

Senior Ashley Perkovich, who finished eighth in the all-around with 36.4 points, lead the Lions in the team competition.

On Saturday, during the individual event finals, Perkovich came away with a fourth-place finish on the vault with a 9.4 and was tied for fourth in the floor exercise with a 9.6 score. Perkovich also finished seventh on the bars with a 9.175 score.

Teammate Natalie Hostetter took home 21st in the all-around with 34.675 points, and senior Kendra Alexson was 39th with 31.950 points.

“This is as close as we’ve ever been,” Jayme Hostetter said. “And I told them ‘You can’t be disappointed in that.’ It’s the highest that Mountainview has ever reached. Next year we’ll just try it again.”