Olathe North did not have the top gymnast setting all-time records this season like they did with Ella Margheim last year.

The Eagles were still able to deliver at state once again.

Olathe North won its second straight KSHSAA gymnastics state championship Saturday, Oct. 22 at Olathe South High School in Olathe. 

“They were consistent all season long,” Olathe North gymnastics coach Amanda Harrington said. “From the very first meet to the very last, they just stayed consistent and I think that’s what helped them win.”

The Eagles scored 106.900 to edge out state runner-up Olathe West at 106.700. The Owls were also the runner-up at last year’s state meet. Lawrence Free State took third with a score of 105.100. The Firebirds, who won the state title in 2020, return to the podium as a team after settling for fourth place last season.

Olathe North senior Riley Jahner finished in fourth place at 35.750, sophomore Greer Moyer took fifth with a score of 35.650 and junior Lindsey Ray took sixth with a score of 35.425.

Harrington said she was happy to see Jahner earn that fourth-place spot in all-around while also medalling in bars and beam. She took fourth in bars with a score of 8.700 and fifth in beam with a score of 9.075.

“She’s a senior who battled injuries all year and just came out and shined today,” Harrington said.
 

In terms of consistency, Harrington pointed to Moyer as the embodiment of that for the team this year. Moyer, who finished fourth in beam at 9.150, joined the team this year as she made the move from club gymnastics.

“Greer was probably our most consistent gymnast at practice, in the gym and in the meet,” Harrington said. “She was just very even keeled and she was the glue that kept them together.”

Ray rounded out the multiple-medal winners for the Eagles as she took fifth in floor with a score of 9.425. Her older sister Kylie Ray took second in the all-around in 2020, earning a medal in each event that year.

“Lindsey just followed in her sister's footsteps,” Harrington said. “She’s worked extremely hard in the gym.”

While Ray faced the specter of her sister’s accomplishments, the entire Olathe North team faced the pressure of following up a season where the team ran away with every meet it entered. 

Olathe North won last year’s state meet with a score of 110.475, re-setting the team’s all-time mark that it achieved less than a month prior and setting the fourth highest score in state meet history. Before back-to-back state titles the last two seasons, the Eagles only other state title was when they won in 1990 as a combined team with Olathe South.

Ray said this state meet felt much different because the competition was so close.

“I feel like last year it was just such a big gap between us and second place that we kind of knew we were going to win,” Ray said. “But this year it was so close and there was a lot of back and forth. Losing half your team is hard, but we also got a lot of new people so that really helped.”
 

Moyer felt a different kind of pressure as the “new club kid” coming over at Margheim dominated when she made the same move last season.

“I definitely did think about that a little bit, but I honestly focused on myself and how to better myself,” Moyer said. “It’s definitely something to think about when you’re coming from club and converting over, but otherwise I’ve really just changed my thought process and tried my best.”

The Eagles ultimately outlasted Olathe West once again, albeit with a much slimmer margin. The Owls finished two-tenths of a point behind the champs this year, led again by senior Alexis Purdy. Purdy also duplicated her state runner-up finish in the all-around from last year, tying Free State senior Maya Dey with a score of 36.850. Purdy took first in beam with a score of 9.500 while finishing second in bars at 9.075 and floor at 9.400. 

Purdy said it was a little bittersweet finish for her and the Owls.

“I don’t want to say I’m sad that we (repeated as runner-ups) because we did everything that we could,” Purdy said. “I guess the next best after first is second and that’s what we got. I think our hard work definitely paid off and I’m super proud of all our freshmen this year.”

Olathe West only had Purdy, senior Dari Johnson and junior Gabby Clinkinbeard on the team last year on its run to state runner-up. This year the team had a trio freshmen to help them out.
 

Johnson finished her career with an eighth-place finish in the all-around while medaling in beam as her score of 9.250 earned her second place. Junior Gabby Clinkinbeard just missed out on medaling in floor, taking seventh with a score of 26.400. 

The Owls’ freshman trio of Micah Vance, Kiera Chacon and Ilyse Haynes each finished just outside the top six spots in at least one event. Vance finished eighth in beam, Chacon took ninth in floor and Haynes landed in 11th for bars.

Harrington, who also coaches Olathe West as well as Olathe East, Olathe Northwest and Olathe South, credits her Owls seniors for helping those freshmen elevate their performances so quickly this season and prepare them for future success.

“I think Alexis Purdy and Dari Johnson as seniors really left a legacy at Olathe West,” Harrington said. “They really prepped them for success for years to come, which is more than you can ask of them.”

Although Purdy did not get to finish her career with the all-around crown or the team state title, she did get to have a farewell moment that matched Margheim’s finish to last season.

Purdy’s floor routine was the final performance at this year’s state meet. When the mash-up of Michael Jackson songs “Bad” and “Thriller” started to play, all of the gymnasts on Olathe teams and most of the other state competitors surrounded the mat. 

Purdy said she picked those two iconic songs because she wanted her routine to be recognizable and get everyone’s attention. 
 

“I just wanted to make sure I got something that would turn heads,” Purdy said.

Her plan totally worked.

Many of the gymnasts had turned their heads all season to watch Purdy perform. They knew her routine well enough to shadow Purdy’s every move at state as the crowd roared with cheers.

Harrington said watching that performance felt like deja vu.

“You just got that same feeling as Margheim,” Harrington said. “Purdy getting to do that was really a cool moment for her because she was kind of in Ella’s shadows a little bit last year. I think her getting that moment today was really awesome.”

Purdy said it felt great to finish her career with that moment connecting with her fellow gymnasts in that way.

“It definitely hypes me up and boosts my confidence because I know everyone’s supporting me and watching me,” Purdy said. “I’m just so grateful that my teammates are so close with me and are able to support me through everything. It’s great.”

 

OLATHE NORTHWEST'S KELLER STICKS LANDING ON ALL-AROUND CROWN

Emmy Keller knew she needed a strong performance in the vault if she wanted to win the all-around title at state.

For Keller, she said the key was running really fast.

Everything after that is simple: roundoff into the board, then get back handspring into the table super fast so that she pops off really high into the air, then complete a flip in time to land on her feet.

See, simple. 

“But it all begins with the run,” Keller said. “If the run’s off then the roundoff is off, then the back handspring is off and the flip is off. Then visualizing the landing is probably the hardest part because you’re going so quickly you have to open up, just set the perfect time to stick it.”

She got the run right, sprinting down the floor at top speed. Then she marked off everything else on the checklist heading into the hardest part. When her feet slammed onto the mat like a superhero landing in a Marvel movie, Keller’s arms shot into the air. She signaled to the crowd with the wave of hands that she did indeed time it perfectly.

Keller did not waste a second of the warm-up time during her team’s vault rotation. She ran over and over again. It might have been concerning to her coach if Keller was not a three-sport student-athlete whose track season in the spring blurs into her the start of her gymnastics season.

“I’m used to doing that stuff before I compete,” Keller said. “That’s just how I’ve been training for years so I know what I need to do for my body to be ready to compete.”

She stuck not only the landing, but the state tite.

Keller’s perfect vault earned a 9.700 in that event to to take first, one of her three gold-medal finishes as the Olathe Northwest sophomore won the all-around individual state title with a score of 37.450.

Keller was amazed that she was able to put it all together for the all-around title so early into her high school career.

“I’m pretty young so it’s nice that it happened so quickly,” Keller said. “I just want to keep working hard for the next few years and I feel like all my work has finally paid off from this year and last year.”
 

Keller, who took third last year, jumped Olathe West senior Alexis Purdy in the standings from a year ago. Purdy tied with Free State’s Maya Dey for state runner-up with 36.850.

Keller said that she knew Purdy would have high scores in bars and beam. Even if Keller delivered one of her top floor performances, which she did with a 9.725 to also win that event, she would really get an edge with her vault score. 

Keller said it was difficult knowing she had to slide past Purdy on the leaderboard to get the all-around crown because of the friendship they’ve cultivated as competitors practice partners.

Purdy was the first one in line, after the Olathe Northwest gymnasts, to hug Keller following the successful vault.

“We practice together and (Purdy) is an amazing person,” Keller said. “She’s the nicest person ever.”

Olathe Northwest coach Amanda Harrington said she’s really excited by the prospect of Keller, who also had third-place finishes in bars at 8.825 and beam at 9.200, reaching this level by the end of Year 2. She’s also not surprised by Keller’s success.
 

“She’s one of the hardest workers in the gym and she always knows what she needs to do to win,” Harrington said. “She’s the kid that's watching everybody else like, ‘Okay, I need to stick this vault (to keep up).’ So I think Emmy Keller will just continue to get better each year, which is insane because she already was at the top this year.”

If anybody needed a sign that Keller’s efforts will continue even after reaching the mountain top, she gave them a fairly quick answer at the end of the state meet.

Keller put a hold on her post-championship photo session with family members to help event workers herd the crowd off the mats lining the gym floor. Then she started helping roll-up the mats.

Keller, who also wrestles for the Ravens girls wrestling team, said her instincts to make sure the gym gets promptly cleaned up after an event is probably split evenly between her gymnast and wrestler mindsets.

“Everyone wants to leave and someone’s gotta do it,” Keller said. 

As just a sophomore, Keller has already shown that she’s willing to be the one who gets the job done.
 

OTHER TOP PERFORMANCES

In addition to tying for state runner-up, Free State senior Maya Dey helped lead the Firebirds to the third-place team trophy. Dey also won the bars with a score of 9.200 while also taking second in the vault and fifth in floor. She scored 9.625 for vault and 9.425 for floor. Senior Maya Huang narrowly missed medaling in the bars and beam, earning eighth-place and ninth-place respectively. Junior JoJo Warrior tied her for ninth in beam with a score of 8.800.

Olathe East sophomore Lainey Palmer helped lead the Hawks to a fourth place finish with 101.700 team score. Palmer narrowly missed an all-around medal as she finished seventh with a score of 34.825. Palmer did medal in vault, taking fourth with a score of 9.450. Senior Paige Schmideskamp took third in floor with a score of 9.450 and sixth in beam with a score of 9.000. Schmideskamp finished 10th in all-around with a score of 34.650.

Shawnee Mission Northwest juniors Kaia Givner and Lindsay Sinclair took home some hardware while also leading their team to a fifth-place team finish. The Cougars finished third in the team race last season. Givner, who finished fifth in all-around last season, took fifth in vault with a score of 9.350. She finished thirteenth in all-around this year, finishing one spot ahead of junior teammate Lindsay Sinclair. Sinclair took fifth in bars with a score of 8.000.

Shawnee Mission East freshman Andi Prendiville took third in the vault with a score of 9.550. She also placed ninth in all-around, along with taking seventh in bars and ninth in floor.

Shawnee Mission North senior Meaghan Driever had the best finish for competitors performing as individuals without their team qualifying for state. Driever took 11th in the all-around, winning a medal by taking sixth in bars with a 8.400. Olathe South senior Madelyn Fletes finished one spot behind her in all-around while earning a third-place medal in floor with a score of 9.450. Shawnee Mission West senior Jeanine Houghton rounded out the medalists from the individuals rotation, taking fifth in vault with a 9.350.