THORNTON — The bright lights shone down on Broomfield gymnastics — both literally and figuratively — at the Class 5A state meet at Thornton High School on Thursday night.
The Eagles, in complete control of a potential state title, finished the competition in full view of spectators and competitors as the last team on the balance beam. Every other squad had already finished up, further adding pressure to the Eagles in crunch time.
But “back-to-back” state champions sounded too sweet to let it slip away.
Broomfield ran away with its second team state crown in as many years, scoring 183.500 — its best of the season by two full points — to handily beat out second-place Mountain Range, who finished with a 180.950. Mia Ritchie bolstered the team’s overall standing by finishing fourth in the all-around with a score of 36.825.
A strong vault in the third rotation catapulted the Eagles toward glory to give them the cushion they needed going into their final event. They scored a 45.700 on beam.
“Honestly, it’s mind-blowing because we were keeping up with the scores and it was very nerve-wracking, especially for beams,” senior captain Mila Thompson said. “At regionals, we fell — every single girl — and we just hit and did our best out there. It was a school record too.”
Their loss to Mountain Range in their first meet of the season set them on a warpath to avenge themselves when it mattered most, and the ladies did everything in their power to make sure they would fine-tune their routines to the best of their abilities.
“Afterwards, we just started working on the harder skills and stuff like that, getting in those reps and the bonuses in all events, especially bars. We whipped out a bunch of releases this year, like mid-season, which is why I’m just so proud of them,” Thompson said. “Going into the season, we were very doubtful, since we lost like four of our core girls in our events. So we were more nervous than we probably should have been.”
Any doubts they had in their first two events on Thursday seemed to melt away in their sprints toward the vault. The Eagles scored a 47.275 in the event, a mark that no team came close to touching all night in any event.
Head coach Mark Bogoger screamed, jumped, paced the floor and pounded his fist after every successful vault.
Say hello to your 5A state champions! @Eagle_athletics @BoCoPreps @CHSAA pic.twitter.com/EnSQTbiVkQ
— Alissa Noe (@crazysportgirl1) November 4, 2022
“It was incredible. It couldn’t have been any better,” he said. “That was the best vault we’ve done all season, better than anything we’ve done in practice. You could see the first two events, they had nerves, right? It wasn’t their best bars or their best floor. They were great. They just weren’t sharp and on, but they somehow just collected themselves.”
Broomfield’s season came full circle to beat out the Mustangs in the end, but Legacy student and Mountain Range competitor Kassie Chapman couldn’t be prouder of the strides she made in her four years with the program.
She credited her team’s vault and floor rotations for putting them in contention for the title and earning the state runner-up trophy on Thursday night.
Chapman finished the first night eighth in the all-around with a cumulative score of 36.475.
“Oh my gosh, I could cry thinking about it,” Chapman said. “I am so proud. For myself, obviously, I’ve grown so much from freshman year. Freshman year, I competed in (two or three) events. We walked in and I think we placed eighth and now, to be contending for a title, that’s insane to me to be here after four years.”
