The gymnastics team had its first meet of the season yesterday evening, March 28, against Christopher High School, Half Moon Bay High School, Gilroy High School and Mountain View High School. Both junior varsity and varsity were able to claim victory with first place titles. On varsity, captain senior Kelly Yamaguma placed third and senior Erin Woolley placed fourth overall.

“This season is going good already,” Kelly said. “A lot of the girls are really talented already even though they haven’t been doing club [gymnastics] for a while. They still have a lot of their skills.”

Last year the girls ended their season in third place in CCS. Despite not achieving their typical spot in second place, the team maintains its optimism.

The varsity team has also doubled its participants, going from a small team of four, to a team of eight. For a team to have a shot at winning overall, it is imperative to have a minimum of four people in order to attain a high enough score.

“Last year we couldn’t make any mistakes because there were no backups,” coach Shannon Thoke said. “Now we have backups on pretty much each event so that’s much more beneficial.”

Thoke also coaches the small four member squad from Mountain View High School due to the school’s lack of a gymnastics coach. Despite the small team, Thoke cites their high skill level as something that could offer the Eagles some serious competition.

“Los Altos has an edge [over Mountain View] because they have more people in case somebody falls off the beam or has a bad day,” Thoke said.

The girls will compete next Tuesday, April 2, against Lowell High School, Kimball High School and Tracy High School.