Hockinson’s Celia Racanelli earned the all-around district championship, while Prairie High School’s full squad will also attend state with a team championship at districts under coach Dakota Tast’s last season at the helm of Prairie, Battle Ground and Hockinson high school gymnasts.
Clark County high school gymnasts competed in the Greater St. Helens League 2A/3A gymnastics districts at Naydenov Gymnastics in Vancouver on Saturday, Feb. 17.
Racanelli became Hockinon’s first district champion with a 35.85 all-around score, highlighted by a 9.2 on vault and floor. The senior district champion is looking forward to competing in all four events during the state meet at Sammamish High School, Feb. 22 and Feb. 23.
“I’m so glad to make it on all four events after only making it on one last year because of my ankle,” Racanelli said. “And I’m really excited that I get to be with my whole team, which is Prairie.”
Prairie’s squad earned the district championship with a score of 162.525. Prairie’s best finish was by Ky Nemeth, with a 9.1 on the beam, good for second.
“I came out here asking them to do the best they could, and for Cece [Racanelli], she did everything and more for all around, which was her goal,” Tast said. “And for our team, our goal was to take first on the team all-around, and then that was a three-peat. Were there mistakes along the way? Yeah. It was a nail biter, but they did such an amazing job pushing out the mistakes and moving on to each event and selling it. So I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Evie Dreiling, Abby Gherman and Sasha Glenn will represent the Ridgefield Spudders in respective events at the state gymnastics event, as well. Dreiling was crowned the district champion for her floor routine with a score of 9.5. Dreiling has performed her routine for several years.
“A lot of times for an athlete, they get a floor routine, sometimes they’re created, choreographed and then the athlete has to work to make it their own. And Evie’s used that routine for several years now so she can perform that routine instead of worrying about where she needs to be,” Ridgefield coach Richard Samuels said. “So she knows where the music is. She knows where to start and stop, and that makes it more comfortable. So she’s performing, not constantly worrying about what the next move is, the next skill is, and it’s raised the bar tremendously.”
