TACOMA — Jordan Hess gave her teammates all she could Friday night at the Class 3A/2A state gymnastics championships.
While there was no championship ending, the fact that Hess performed at all was inspiring enough.
The Columbia River Chieftains shook off the news regarding Hess’ torn ACL in her left knee and finished third in the team standings.
Hess, who injured the knee last week, still competed on the uneven bars during the team competition, sticking a painful landing. All of her teammates rushed to the mat to give her a hug, to offer her support, to show their appreciation.
“I didn’t want to end my high school career giving up,” Hess said. “That’s not who I am.”
She still is not done with her career. Hess’ performance on the bars was good enough to qualify her for today’s individual event finals.
She won’t be alone.
Teammate Jennifer DeBellis, a junior, excelled in three events and qualified for all four — the floor exercise, the vault, the balance beam, and the bars — and finished fourth in the all-around competition.
“It’s good,” she said with a smile. “All I wanted to do was be better than last year. I did that, except for bars. Let’s just forget about bars.”
She ended her night with a crowd-pleasing performance on the balance beam, scoring a 9.425, the best of the competition. She also topped the leaderboard on the floor, her first event of the evening, when the judges gave her a 9.675. DeBellis won the state title on the floor two seasons ago.
DeBellis and the rest of the Chieftains, though, said Hess was the gymnast of the night for their team.
“She’s an inspiration. Just pure inspiration,” DeBellis said.
Hess was the second-leading point earner for the Chieftains during last week’s district championship, but tore the ligament in the final event of that competition. So having her out of three of the events this week — and competing injured in the fourth — put a damper on Columbia River’s championship hopes. The Chieftains won the state title in 2009 and finished second last year.
Yet, the Chieftains left the Tacoma Dome’s Exhibition Hall feeling like they accomplished plenty this day.
“The fact that we made it (to third) means we are champions,” Columbia River coach Alicia Green said. “The third-place trophy is first place to us.”
The Chieftains endured two torn ACLs this season and 12 strains or sprains, plus they used 162 rolls of tape. Yes, they counted.
Yet Hess refused to let that last injury take her completely out of her final competition.
She scored an 8.7 on the bars, tied for fifth for the day. She took the pain and stuck the landing. It was the first time she had put pressure on the knee since the injury. In practice and in warm-ups, she would finish her routine by landing on her back.
“I was just afraid. I had to twist and land sideways. I was really afraid of that landing,” Hess said. “It hurt a lot. It was a sharp-shooting pain, but it’s for my team. I’d do anything for my team. A little pain? What’s that?”
As soon as she landed, her teammates rushed to her.
“It was amazing,” Hess said, noting that all the injuries made the team closer this season. “We’re a tight-knit family. They know the pain that I felt. They were excited for me to be able to help.”
Earlier in the day, Fort Vancouver’s Chelsea Zimmerman qualified for the finals on the floor exercise. She scored 9.45, good for a tie for sixth. The top 16 in each event qualified for finals. Amy Siebenthaler of Camas made it on the beam (eighth in qualifying) and the floor (13th), giving her finalists berths in all four years of her career with the Papermakers.
All scores will be wiped out, with the finalists earning “new life” for today’s competition. The top eight will earn medals.
DeBellis totalled 36.850 points in her all-around. Cady Markin of University of Spokane won the title with 37.300.
Kamiakin of Kennewick beat Enumclaw for the team title, 174.275-173.575.
