Auburn Mountainview’s Kayla Porter overcomes injury, caps season with state titles in bars, beam

Some spent the finals of Saturday’s state gymnastics championships enjoying it, soaking in the final match of their season — and for some their gymnastics career.

Kayla Porter spent it making a statement.

For the second day in a row the Auburn Mountainview High School junior gymnast was wearing a walking boot on her right leg to the winner’s podium. Only this time she hopped up to the top block as a 3A/2A/1A state champion for both the balance beam and uneven bars.

That was despite injuring her foot cheerleading during a basketball game on Wednesday, and using crutches or limping about when she wasn’t competing.

First-year Auburns Mountainview co-coach Ashley Perkovich, a former AMV state gymnast, said she was cringing the entire day.

“Not a lot of people could do what she was able to do this weekend,” Perkovich said.

Porter entered Friday’s all-around championships as the favorite after finishing second last year by less than a point.

She finished fourth in Friday’s all-around, while Auburn sophomore Ali Tate took the state title.

So Saturday she started her day on the bars, scoring a 9.375. That held up for one state title.

She ended it on the balance beam, where Porter scored a 9.525 for another state title.

“It hurt,” Porter said. “But I mean, got to push through it.

“It definitely felt better today. I don’t know why. I iced it this morning and I cried a little bit, to be honest, and pushed through it. There was nothing else I really could have done.”

Porter declined to compete in the vault after how painful it was Friday. She did compete in the floor exercise. Perkovich didn’t think she would, until she saw Porter warming up.

“I told her going in that the most important thing is that you can live with your body the rest of your life,” Perkovich said. “I know there’s pressure to go win, but you have to be honest with yourself. Not having her vault was probably the hardest thing for her, but I’m glad she was OK with that.”

Holy Names’ Elena Fowler and Kamiakin’s Saige Polanik tied for first in vault at 9.575. Mt. Spokane’s Jade Anderson won the state title in the floor exercise with a score of 9.625, just ahead of Bonney Lake’s Hailey Taylor (9.6) and Enumclaw’s Victoria Hernandez (9.525).

Tate followed up her all-around championship with another great all-around performance. She placed third on the beam with a score of 9.475, tied for third in vault (9.55) alongside Holy Names’ Kaysa Lundberg, tied with Porter and Kamiakin’s Saige Polanik for fifth in floor (9.5) and tied for fifth in the bars (9.150) with Auburn Riverside’s Luba Migdal.

“Today I wasn’t really as focused today as I was yesterday,” Tate said. “Yesterday was the big title event that i wanted to get and today was just fun and go out there. Most of my routine was just cold turkey, so it was just kind of just for fun.”

Hernandez, who will play volleyball at Lewis & Clark College next year, placed sixth in Friday’s all-around. She ended her Enumclaw career with the third-place finish in Saturday’s floor, and also tied for sixth in the vault and tied for ninth in bars. She repeated her score of 9.525 in floor.

“I just wanted to have fun and leave it all out there,” said Hernandez, who led Enumclaw to a fourth-place team finish on Friday. “I wasn’t so worried about the score as much as just having fun.

“I’ve done gymnastics for so many years. For it to finally be done is sad, but it’s done. I’m happy. I made a ton of memories and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

OLYMPIA’S WAGGONER WINS 4A VAULT TITLE

Makayla Waggoner trotted up to the podium, climbed on top of its highest box and smiled as an official strung a medal hanging from a blue ribbon around her neck.

One day made all the difference.

The Olympia High junior won the individual title in the vault Saturday at the Class 4A gymnastics state championships at the Tacoma Dome. That came one day after Waggoner took sixth place in the 4A all-around competition — a finish she wasn’t impressed with.

“I’m a lot happier today than yesterday,” she said.

With good reason — the state title was Waggoner’s first.

She posted a score of 9.850 to secure the win, edging out Woodinville’s Alli McManus by 0.075 points.

“It’s really exciting. I’m really proud of myself,” she said. “It feels good to win.”

The vault was the only event in which Waggoner qualified for the finals. She took third on Friday to advance.

She was Olympia’s only representative in the individual finals. The Bears took fourth place in the team competition on Friday after qualifying for the first time since 1999.

“I told myself I was going to have a good attitude about it going into it,” Waggoner said. “I knew it was going to be more of a stress-free meet, because I’m usually more consistent on vault than I am in my other events.”

Waggoner was cool and confident as she charged toward the springboard, did a round-off onto the table and completed a layout flip with both feet planted on the mat.

“I ran hard and was really aggressive and tried to stick the landing,” she said.

It was as simple as that.

Waggoner, a junior, expects to make a return appearance next season — and in more than one event.

“Next year, hopefully I will be more consistent on the other events like I am with vault, and I’ll come out and hit four-for-four, and hopefully make it into the finals with all four events,” she said.

Staff writer Lauren Smith contributed to this report

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 9:24 PM with the headline "Auburn Mountainview’s Kayla Porter overcomes injury, caps season with state titles in bars, beam."