In a very competitive meet at Washington-Lee High School on Feb. 1, McLean pulled through to become the Liberty District champions.

“We placed first at districts, beating Yorktown High School by only 0.3 in a very close and competitive meet,” senior Sam Simon said. “Our team score was a 143.9, which was a season high.”

This score is achieved by the efforts of each individual competing. Together, McLean gymnastics delivered in each of the events.Their persistence helped place them above the others.

“I competed [in the] all-around and did ok,” junior Sara Vavonese said. “As a team we were pretty consistent.”

Simon competed in the all-around in addition to Vavonese. The all-around is an event in which the athlete competes in all four events, which are the uneven bars, vault, balance beam, and floor. A winning team is determined by the cumulative total score of each individual’s event, relying on each athlete to do their own best.

“Generally, the people who have practiced their routines, and are confident that they are competition ready compete [in] the events that they are best at,” Simon said. “A team picks their best six girls per event to compete in the meet. Of those six girls, the top four scores for each event are counted and added together to get a final team score.”

The camaraderie between teammates provides for a motivational environment, as they push each other to do their absolute best.

“My favorite part about McNastics is how supportive this team is towards each other, and how energetic everyone is,” Simon said. “We have such a strong bond and a great team atmosphere that it makes the whole experience something to remember.”

As they continue to encourage each other, the team hopes to get a repeat of last year as they won the state championships. However, they know this goal will be challenging.

“It will be hard to repeat last year because we lost one of our best gymnasts,” Vavonese said. “Winning by so little [at districts] was really scary, but it felt good hearing we won.”