2024 GIRLS GYMNASTICS PREVIEW
 
2023 State champion: Olathe North
 
2023 State runner-up: Lawrence
 
2023 All-around champion: Emmy Keller, Olathe Northwest
 
2023 Vault champion: Kaia Givner, Shawnee Mission Northwest
 
2023 Floor exercise champion: Lindsey Ray, Olathe North
 
2023 Uneven bars champion: Emmy Keller, Olathe Northwest
 
2023 Balance beam champion: Lindsey Ray, Olathe North
 
2023 Review: Olathe North continued its reign atop high school gymnastics in Kansas by completing the three-peat last fall. The Eagles saved their best for last as the team delivered its highest points total of the season at the state meet, finishing more than four points ahead of runner-up Lawrence. Senior Lindsey Ray led the way by winning two events, floor and beam, on her way to a state runner-up finish in the all-around. Junior Greer Moyer and senior Hannah Jensen joined her on the medal stand for that as they finished third and sixth respectively. Both also had runner-up finishes in events, with Moyer taking second behind Ray in beam and Jensen finishing second for bars. Olathe North finished with 109.050 points, the second highest mark over the last three years behind only the team’s score at the 2021 state meet of 110.500, which was the fourth highest all-time in state history. For the second straight season, Olathe Northwest’s Emmy Keller walked away with the all-around crown. Keller won with her career-best score of 38.100, although she ended up with less gold than the previous year. She earned first in the uneven bars while settling for state runner-up in vault and bars. Keller also took third behind the Olathe North duo in beam. Her score in the floor was mathematically the closest to another gold as she finished 0.025 points behind Ray in that one. But it was in the vault where Keller faced arguably her most dramatic denial of a second gold in an event. Keller delivered a 9.700 score that placed her firmly at the top of the leaderboard for most of the day until right at the end of the very last event rotation. Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Kaia Givner stuck the landing on her final attempt, earning a 9.750 score to win the gold. Her performance keyed a third-place team finish for the Cougars, which tied for the program’s best finish since winning the state title 2010. With Shawnee Mission Northwest edging out Olathe West for the final team trophy, the Cougars ended a streak of five seasons where two Olathe squads finished in the top three of the team race.
 
2024 Contenders: This season will provide Olathe North with its biggest challenge yet in the role of defending champs returning to defend their crown. After the 2021 state title that started the streak, the Eagles had to replace the points of Ella Margheim, who set the state record for all-around, floor and beam with her dominant performance in her one and only state year of high school gymnastics after coming over from club competition. But the team returned with the rest of a core group that stayed intact through last year’s state title. With the graduation of all-around medalists Lindsey Ray and Hannah Jensen, as well as Faith Fitts, the team will look much different this season. Senior Greer Moyer, who joined the team just last year after competing in club for her first two years of high school, will be the most accomplished returner following her third-place finish in the all-around. She’ll also be joined by sophomore Olivia Noteboom, who competed as the team’s fourth all-around performer at last year’s meet. Noteboom narrowly missed out on reaching the medal stand in three of four events to finish eighth in the all-around. Although Olathe North will have some spots to fill, so will the other top teams from last season. After a state runner-up finish, Lawrence graduates its top performer in Meara Kingery. Kingery finished fifth in the all-around with medals in both the vault and the beam. The Lions will also need to replace the points of Haley Belanger, Sophia Wirth and Emily Brandt. Belanger took fifth in floor while narrowly missing out on earning a medal in vault. The team will return senior Provi Fowler, who finished 18th in all-around a season ago. Shawnee Mission Northwest graduated not only Kaia Givner after her gold in vault and fourth-place finish in all-around, but also Lindsay Sinclar, Chloe Carter and Emelia Fothergill. Sinclair was the only one of those three to medal, taking third in bars, although Carter did win the unofficial state handstand competition held by all the gymnasts as they awaited the final scores to be tabulated. Olathe West returns most of its competitors from its fourth-place finish last year. The Owls saw the graduation of Gabby Clinkinbeard, who took third in floor, but they return the trio of juniors in Kiera Chacon, Micah Vance and Ilyse Haynes. Chacon and Vance finished 11th and 12th in the all-around, followed by Clinkinbeard in 13th and Haynes in 14th. Haynes finished at the back of the pack, but she is the one who joined Clinkinbeard in reaching the medal stand. Haynes took sixth in bars. Olathe East finished 2.4 points back of Olathe West in the team race to take fifth, but the Hawks also did not have a senior on last year’s team. Lainey Palmer returns for her senior year looking to deliver Olathe East its top all-around performance for the third straight year. Palmer led the way for the Hawks with a ninth-place finish last year, as well as finishing a fourth in vault and fifth in bars. As a sophomore, Palmer finished seventh in all-around while earning a fourth-place medal in vault. She’ll return alongside junior Olivia Tryban, who earned fifth in beam and finished 17th in all-around. Senior Gabby Meredith and sophomore Kaia Wilber tied for 20th in all-around. When you add in the addition of sophomore Kailynn Sparks, joining the team after competing in club as a freshman, the Hawks could have a shot to push past an Olathe North team that is not sporting that depth it has in years past. Shawnee Mission East could also be primed to jump into that state title conversation. After finishing seventh in the team race last year, the Lancers returns four juniors led by standout Andi Prendiville. The team also has its own club kid making the switch to high school competitions with senior Claire Rogers. Prendiville finished 10th in the all-around last year, thanks in large part to her score in vault. She ended up finishing third in that event for the second straight year, but her 9.575 score would have been a gold, or at least a lock for state runner-up, in almost any season before 2022. But there have been three scores at 9.7 or above in the vault after only six competitors had previously hit that mark for that event in the history of the KSHSAA state meet. That leads us to the competitor who hit that mark twice in the last two seasons, Emmy Keller of Olathe Northwest. Keller only has one gold to show for those vault performances, but she’s still dominated in nearly every event over the last two years. Keller returns looking for her third straight season as the all-around champion. She improved from her sophomore year to her junior year by not only delivering her career-best score at last year’s state meet, but by earning a medal in every event for the first time. And yet, it seems like falling just short of winning gold in every event sent Keller into the offseason with determination to somehow take another leap forward as a senior. With her performing at that level, she remains the frontrunner for the all-around crown again and instantly puts the Ravens one or two breakout performers away from jumping into the team title race as well.