FEDERAL WAY — Four Lady Viking gymnasts qualified for the state tournament are the most that North Kitsap has seen in a “long, long time.” However, the officiating at the West Central Districts meet last weekend left NK coach Kris Goodfellow sympathizing with the Seahawks.

North Kitsap entered the WCD meet with hopes of cracking the top-three in the team standings and, therefore, qualifying the purple crew in its entirety for state. At the end of the morning session in which North competed, they had ascended to fourth place, but by the end of the afternoon session — which saw seemingly higher scores, Goodfellow said — NK had dropped to eighth out of 20 teams competing.

“I really feel as a team we are better than the schools that finished fifth through seventh and it is unfortunate that the scores did not reflect that; I can relate to how Mike Holmgren felt after the Super Bowl,” Goodfellow said. “I am pleased that four qualified for state. That is the most North has sent in a long, long time.”

At the state tournament this weekend in Tacoma, North Kitsap’s lone 2005 participant Kai Morrow will be competing on the bars, beam and floor; Alice Pittack heads to state on vault, Katie Bale on beam and Whitney Glebe on bars, as each individual finished in the top-14 of each respective event.

The Lady Vikes have been consistently improving during the 2005-06 season and the team reached its culmination as Narrows League champions Feb. 4. Individually, at the WCD meet, the Vikes peaked at just the right time, Goodfellow said.

“I think Katie (Bale) had her best meet ever this season,” Goodfellow said of the senior, adding that Bale completed all the elements of her optional bar routine, “which is something I had yet to see her accomplish.”

Bale tip-toed to her best score of the season on the beam, scoring an 8.425 with one fall and also tumbled to her best score on the floor with an 8.8. On the vault, she stuck her tsuk leap but only her beam score was good enough to move on as she finished 12th.

Morrow finished tops for the North squad as she glided to second place on the beam with her best performance of the year, scoring 9.125, and ninth place on the floor with another pinnacle, scoring 9.05. She also swung to third place on the bars with a score of 7.825.

“The competition in the morning session was fierce. Vault was our first event and all season had been our best, but the scores were unusually low,” Goodfellow said. “(Morrow) was very disappointed with her vault score but was able to put that past her and give stellar performances on the remaining three events.”

Pittack came through with a stellar performance on the vault as she flew to an 8.3 reaching a piece of a six-person tie for 14th place in the event.

Glebe qualified by capturing 10th place on the uneven bars with a score of 7.45, which was one of her best on the year.

“I believe that everyone did their best, we peaked at the right time,” Goodfellow noted. “There were three points between the fourth place team and us but the West Central District is a tough, tough district. There are many talented gymnasts and not many spots available for state.”

Auburn Riverside (169.975), Kentwood (167.750) and Rogers (166.750) will be the teams representing the WCD at the state tournament as they finished as the top-three.

The Vikings finished with a team total of 158.775.