It’s been a whirlwind year or so for Camas freshman Shea McGee.
First, McGee suffered a broken wrist, causing her to take a break from gymnastics, a sport that’s been part of her life since she was pre-schooler.
Then her family moved from Colorado to Camas. She gave diving a try last fall before returning to the gym for her first season of high school gymnastics.
That season ended with McGee narrowly missing the state all-around title, but she did help Camas claim the team state title.
So, all in all, a pretty good year.
“It was pretty good,” McGee said. “I made a lot of new friends, and I’ve got all my gymnastics friends, so it was pretty good.”
It also ended with McGee being named The Columbian’s All-Region gymnast of the year.
“Shea won every league meet for us except one, when she was (out of town) and she came in stronger than any other freshman I’ve coached,” Camas coach Caroll Wilson said. “She was 0.15 away from the all-around title at state. Pretty impressive for a freshman. We definitely want her around.”
Entering her freshman season at Camas, McGee had few expectations.
“I guess I kind of went with the flow and was seeing how everything fell into place,” McGee said. “I took a year off because I broke my wrist and then the move. So I was just kind of seeing where it would go.”
During her year away from gymnastics, McGee helped Camas form its first girls diving team, joining her sister Irelyn, an experienced diver and gymnastics teammate Jax Purwins in the experience. All three divers advanced to the semifinals at the state meet.
“It was pretty fun,” she said. “It was just trying new things, seeing different sports I might want to try if I ever get tired of gymnastics.”
The year away from gymnastics rejuvenated her passion for the sport, and the her addition to the team, along with fellow freshman Alyssa Shibata, gave the Papermakers a state-contending team.
It also added some pressure at the state meet.
“I feel like me, Alyssa and Jax had a lot of stress on our last event at state,” she said. “It was bars and we knew the scores we had to get were above 9.5s. And we all did that, so it was cool.”
It also put McGee in position for the all-around. After she finished her events at state, she was in the lead for the all-around. But Kentridge’s Lexi McKnight was still competing.
“I was looking at the board and I was like ‘Oh, I’m first. That’s pretty cool,’ ” McGee said. McKnight “was the last girl to go in the whole meet. She was doing floor and she knew she needed a 9.55 (to win), and she got it.”
McKnight finished with a score of 38.05, while McGee had 37.90 to place second.
The next day, McGee capped her season by placing sixth on beam, fourth on floor and fourth on vault.
A pretty good finish to a wild year.
Sarah Ellis, Columbia River
All-around 3A/2A district champion also placed second at state on vault, third on floor exercise
Nina Evans, Mountain View
Senior was sixth at 3A/2A state meet in all-around, fourth on vault and sixth in floor exercise
Grace Gordon, Columbia River
Freshman was 3A/2A district champion on beam and bars, but was injured right before state meet.
Jax Purwins, Camas
Senior was 4A district all-around champion; third at state on bars, seventh on floor and eighth on vault.
Mac Ridgway, Union
Junior was runner-up on vault at the 4A state meet; 4A district champion on the beam.
Alyssa Shibata, Camas
Freshman was fifth at 4A state in all-around and fifth on bars; district runner-up on vault and bars.
