Lawrence High junior Josie Hickerson hugs teammate Eliana Seidner after competing in the vault at the state gymnastics meet on Saturday at Olathe East.

Olathe ? Josie Hickerson started her run-up toward the springboard and then stopped. She returned to the starting point, shaking out each leg and wearing a look that signified everything going through her mind.

She was far from sure of herself, but two weeks earlier she had made the decision to attempt the difficult vault at the state gymnastics meet at Olathe East on Saturday.

“I had a huge mental block over it,” Hickerson would later say.

Three years before Hickerson and the Lawrence gymnastics team took fifth at the state meet — Free State finished in ninth — the junior was participating in club gymnastics. At the time, she required surgery to remove a tumor in her back.

While she waited for the operation, she was unable to take painkillers, and thus it became too painful to complete the vault. Three years later, she still was not completely comfortable with it. She tried out parts of it multiple times, never actually attempting the full maneuver in her practice runs.

Then it was go time.

After restarting her run-up Hickerson landed the vault. She was instantly swarmed by her coaches and teammates, one who even ran down the stands and onto the court to participate in an emotional group hug.

Working on a story from the Kansas state gymnastics meet. Discussed in it — this vault and why it was so emotional for the team. pic.twitter.com/uXtXptEDm5

— Scott Chasen (@ChasenScott) October 21, 2017

“She’s an amazing young girl,” said Lawrence and Free State coach Michelle Seidner. “She pulled that out when she needed to because she knew what it was going to take today.”

She wasn’t the only one with that mindset.

While Hickerson placed in vault (fourth), bars (tied-sixth) and floor (second), leading to her sixth-place finish in the all-around rankings, she was joined by a fellow Lawrencian who broke out a few tricks of her own.

Free State’s Talia Gay, who finished in second in the all-around with 36.625 points, waited until the very end of her favorite event to show off a new move. For her dismount at the end of her bars routine, she descended with a double-backflip.

“I feel like I’m flying in-between them,” Gay said. “Just fun.”

The freshman took first on the bars, winning by 0.05 points Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Hallie Ross.

Gay, who tied for fifth in the vault and placed second on the beam, didn’t expect “anything big” when she started the year, one in which she maintained she both learned and improved a lot.

Her coach, however, disagreed emphatically with one part of that statement.

“You see her perform one time and you know that she’s a star,” Seidner said. “There was never any question in my mind that she’d be up on that podium every meet.”

Certainly both Gay and Hickerson made their residency on the podium commonplace as they received medal after medal. LHS’ Eden Kingery was the only other Lawrencian to place, coming in fifth with a score of 9.175 on the floor.

Neither Free State nor Lawrence ultimately placed as a team, though the Lions were closest, finishing less than two-and-a-half points behind Shawnee Mission Northwest (3rd, 103.375 points).

Several other individuals came close to placing, though. Free State’s Mikyla Williams came in seventh in the vault, missing out on sixth by 0.05 points, while Kingery had a pair of top-10 finishes in both the vault and beam events.

“I feel really blessed to have been a part of it because I saw these girls grow in so many different ways,” Seidner said of the season. “We didn’t come home with a trophy today, but that’s not stopping us. It won’t stop them. They’ll keep improving and keep striving for that trophy next year.”

State Gymnastics Meet

Saturday at Olathe East

Team scores — 1. Olathe Northwest, 105.825; 2. Olathe East, 105.050; 3. Shawnee Mission Northwest, 103.375; 4. Shawnee Mission South, 102.625; 5. Lawrence, 101.050; 6. Shawnee Mission East, 100.475; 7. Newton, 99.375; 8. Olathe South, 97.075; 9. Free State, 96.175.

Free State and Lawrence High results (top-six finishers placed)

All-around — 2. Talia Gay, FS, 36.625; 6. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 35.450; T-12. Eden Kingery, LHS, 34.050; 20. Mikyla Williams, FS, 32.700; 29. Eliana Seidner, LHS, 31.300; 30. Kaila Bradfield, LHS, 27.950.

Vault — 4. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 9.15; T-5. Talia Gay, FS, 9.10; 7. Mikyla Williams, FS, 9.05; 10. Eden Kingery, LHS, 8.90; T-23. Eliana Seidner, 8.60; T-34. Monica Kimmel, FS, 8.30; T-42. Kaila Bradfield, LHS, 7.90; T-42. Klara Hinson, LHS, 7.90; 44. Asia Byer FS, 7.60.

Bars — 1. Talia Gay, FS, 9.075; T-6. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 8.150; 25. Eliana Seidner, LHS, 7.150; T-30. Eden Kingery, LHS, 6.925; T-30. Mikyla Williams, FS, 6.925; 39. Klara Hinson, LHS, 5.325; 40. Kaila Bradfield, LHS, 4.950; 41. Asia Byer, FS, 4.800; 42. Kaliyah Townsend, FS, 4.750.

Beam — 2. Talia Gay, FS, 9.475; 8. Eden Kingery, LHS, 9.050; 11. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 8.775; 23. Mikyla Williams, FS, 8.250; 31. Tia Herrman, LHS, 7.600; T-34. Eliana Seidner, LHS, 7.350; 41. Kaila Bradfield, LHS, 6.900; 43. Kaliyah Townsend, FS, 5.775; 45. Lauren Miller, FS, 5.575.

Floor — 2. Josie Hickerson, LHS, 9.375; 5. Eden Kingery, LHS, 9.175; 9. Talia Gay, FS, 8.975; 23. Mikyla Williams, FS, 8.475; T-37. Eliana Seidner, LHS, 8.200; T-37. Kaila Bradfield, LHS, 8.200; 40. Kaliyah Townsend, FS, 7.975; 43. Klara Hinson, LHS, 7.550; 45. Lauren Miller, FS, 7.250.