McKenzie has had a great season this spring. She's had some best scores and podium finishes, and is loving the sport even more than she has before. She was really nervous going into State because for the first time she could reasonably qualify for regionals. It wasn't going to be easy, but if she just executed her routines cleanly she had a legitimate shot. The younger girls went earlier in the day and four of them qualified. The judges looked like they were in good moods and the girls went into their afternoon session with high hopes.
The girls started on vault. This has been McKenzie's strength this season and she uses it as a buffer for some of her lower scores. She really wanted a 9.0 or more, when she came away with an 8.85 we were a little nervous. We didn't have a lot of wiggle room. On bars she had a 8.225. The judges were being really picky on bars so for her to get that score today when she had teammates scores much lower was a blessing. The girls moved to beam and this is when all of the parents really started doing the math. McKenzie came away with an 8.325. She didn't fall. She lost a connection score, but she stayed on the beam. Unfortunately Evalyn wasn't so lucky. She was so discouraged by her bar score that her head wasn't in a good place and she fell twice. McKenzie just needed an 8.6 on floor and she could go to regionals. That was doable, but not guaranteed.
I was smart this time and decided to record her waiting for her score. When it popped up as a, 8.8 she was so excited. She went running up to her teammates and gave them huge hugs. Four of the older girls qualified that day too so now we have eight going to New Mexico in three weeks.
I am so crazy proud of this girl. Regionals has been a dream for her ever since he started optional gymnastics. She just working consistently, never giving up, and she did it!
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