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Niwot gymnast Mia Curry started preparing months in advance for the 2019 Class 4A state all-around competition, but she wasn't prepared for the flood of emotions after hearing that all of her hard work had paid off.

"I'm just...super happy," the stunned sophomore said moments after the announcement of her first-place finish in the individual all-around at this year's gymnastics championships, held at Thornton High School on Nov. 8. "I'm just so happy and proud of my entire team, and myself, and I'm soooo excited for whatever comes next."

Curry posted the night's top score in the floor exercise (9.475), second in uneven bars (9.2), third in balance beam (9.175), and fifth in vault (9.15), for a final score of 37.000, which was good for first overall and the first state all-around title for Niwot in at least a decade. For head coach Marisa Purcell, Curry's title will bring more than just another trophy to the Cougars' gymnastics program.

"We just knew with another year under her belt there could be some possibilities," she said of Curry, who finished fourth overall in bars and fifth in floor at the 2018 state championships as a freshman. "Having an all-around state champion is exciting, and a tremendous individual accomplishment for her, and it will help her come in as a junior and also be one of the team leaders."

Unfortunately, Curry's high score wasn't quite enough to get her team onto the podium. With 174.525 team points, Niwot took third overall, behind Elizabeth in first (179.700) and Green Mountain (177.375) in second. Afterwards, Purcell said that her upstart team's improvement over the year hadn't been able to overcome their lack of state meet experience.

"They were very nervous. We came in knowing that a lot of us hadn't been here before. We've been preparing them for two weeks to understand the atmosphere, but you don't always figure it out until you're here."

In addition to Curry, three Niwot gymnasts finished in the top-12 of this year's all-around-freshman Savannah Slater in ninth (34.775), junior Mallory Christopher in 10th (34.450), and sophomore Olivia Sroka in 12th (34.250). As Purcell expected, Niwot's best performance on the night came during the floor exercise in the final rotation. Led by Curry, four of Niwot's six competitors (Slater, Christopher, and Sroka) scored 9.1 or higher and qualified for the individual event finals the following day.

"That is where they feel the most comfortable and the most confident," she said. "I told them to end this meet knowing that even if it didn't turn out the way they wanted it to, they should have fun and finish it up."

Jocelyn Rowley

The Niwot gymnastics teams waits for teammate Ava Silverstein's score on the beam rotation at the Class 4A state gymnastics championships on Nov. 8. From left, Savannah Slater, Olivia Sroka, Mallory Christopher, Mia Curry, Madison Sloane, and Zoey Stowe.

It was not a terrific night for Niwot in the bars or vault rotations, which wasn't wholly unexpected by Purcell. On beam, just Curry and Slater finished in the top-12.

Curry repeated her impressive performance the next day in the Class 4A individual event finals, finishing first in floor (9.5), second in beam (9.175) and bars (9.15), and 12th (8.9) in vault. Slater was seventh overall in both floor (9.2) and beam (8.825), while Christopher (9.15) and Sroka (8.65) finished 12th and 15th respectively in floor.

Though the third place finish was short of the young team's goal, the lessons learned from the disappointment will pay dividends next year and beyond, according to Purcell.

"You always want to do better, and have those chances, but we're a young team in a building year," she said. "I don't lose anybody, and two of the juniors on this varsity team really stepped up and are really trying to lead this team. We look forward to the future, and we have a lot to look forward to."